Flora Riddle 3
by Mrs Borgin
Summary: The 3rd part of FloraRiddle's story, daughter of Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix. Gradually the sweet Flora slowly approaches to everything she tried to avoid: the Dark side will gradually leading her to a path that seems to have back. As spirals don't return to the same point. To understand this path, I suggest you read the first fics: Flora Riddle 1 and 2.
1. Nauseating days

This story is a sequel to Flora Riddle 1 and 2, already posted in this site. It's convenient to read them first for your completely understanding.

Flora Riddle 3

Nauseating days

The Christmas' Party was refreshing for the whole family. Flora and Felipe took the opportunity to take a three-day trip to Brazil with their children, to see their family and friends. The children enjoyed themselves by telling their friends what they learned in the new school. But of course, nobody believed them. And that was exactly the reason their parents let them tell the truth.

Flora was very happy, albeit a bit sleepy and sometimes very emotional. She could not understand why Brazil thrilled her so much. She cried every time she met a friend or even saw a flower that she knew would not be able to survive the cold European winter. She felt ridiculous. And her desire to go back home was immense. Home as in not Brazil, but rather her little pink house in Hogsmeade.

That night she would be meeting her _witch_ friends. Felipe and she were speculating and debating how they would reveal the truth to Nadine and Katarina. She could not keep from sharing the wonderful secret with them; both were very special to her, and she knew that her friends would really enjoy and love knowing about a Magical World.

Nadine was a very expressive and cheerful woman married to a Muggle, who was extremely dedicated to his family. They had a young daughter with eyes as black as prunes.

Katarina was sweet and gentle. She was unmarried. She worked at a small school, and was very devoted to her nieces. She was the only witch in her family though Felipe and Flora had speculated that she might be the daughter of a Squib, since her paternal grandmother had always given indications of having a special something, while her father seemed unable to use magic.

"Should we do it dramatically or just tell them the truth the plain way?"

Felipe asked Flora, hoping that she would vote for the more playful option. Both of them were very good-humored and they were inclined to make everything funnier and better.

"How about this?" Flora said, "While I'm talking with them, you can cast spells behind them, like serving them juice without touching the jug, or closing the window using your wand or something else?"

"'Maybe ... But what about Davi? He's surely coming, right?"

"Davi is married to Nadine, so he must know he has got a witch at home. He loves her too much to get shocked when we just confirm the truth."

"Yeah, you're right… as always!" Felipe smiled lovingly at his wife.

So, as agreed, while the children played in the backyard of their grandparents' house, Flora and Felipe received friends and "set their scene" ." The small audience got the impression that it all was all illusion and tricks and therefore enjoyed it a lot. Then Felipe gave his wand to Katarina, who immediately caused a small disaster in the kitchen. All of them were struck dumb with amazement, and it was then that Flora and Felipe told their dumbstruck guests about the magical world and life in Hogsmeade.

Flora got slightly disturbed when Harry's image came to her mind. Quickly disguising it, she resumed her talking.

After many jokes and laughs, she invited Katarina to return with them to Hogsmeade.

And so, they went on along the night by imagining how life would be if all of the five lived in the town. As Flora had imagined, Davi was not more surprised than the women at the revelations. He was so proud to have a real witch at home that he wished his daughter would become a witch too. He joked a lot about it. Everyone had a great time.

The day after this gathering, Flora, Felipe and their children returned to Europe. Katarina would meet them two weeks later.

The journey by plane seemed long and endless to Flora, now that she knew the Floo network, portal keys and apparition. Moreover the days were like getting shorter to her. The holidays were getting over. At least she would not have to be apart from her children, since she would be at school two to three times a week. Even then, distressing feelings ate away inside her: she had not seen Harry Potter since the Christmas party. Neither a visit nor a letter, not even an e-mail. She would not find him in King's Cross, since they already were in Hogsmeade and her children would not have to take the Hogwarts Express. She was sad. He had forgotten her.

Upon arriving from Brazil, a few days before the beginning of classes, she got an e-mail from Katarina, asking them to meet her in London, because she was afraid that she would not know how to get to Hogsmeade. Indeed. It came through Flora's mind that probably the town was protected, just as the Leaky Cauldron that could not be seen by the Muggles. No one had ever explained to Flora: could a witch who had never seen those public wizarding locations find them? After discussing it with Felipe, they decided to meet her friend in London and bring her home safely. They would take the chance to pay a visit to Aunt Narcissa too. The news pleased the children, because they were unhappy at the idea of not taking the train and miss the "mess" and fun of the travel. And it also pleased Flora ...

They met Scorpius at his Grandma's. He awaited them there. He had to hear from Ricardo all the news from Brazil. Besides, his Brazilian cousin had promised to bring him some items for them to do magic tricks. Without their parents knowing the two boys were plotting to trade some of these items with the _Weasleys_**'** Wizard _Wheezes_. Ricardo, just like his mother, learned very fast, so he and his cousin had spent the holidays studying how to charm Muggle objects to play tricks.

When Flora observed the boys talking in the yard, she began to suspect that something was wrong. She thought she should keep her eyes and ears on both of them. She feared that Ricardo would end up being expelled from school.

At six the next morning, Katarina arrived. They greeted her at the airport and then proceeded towards the Leaky Cauldron right away. To Flora's surprise, they met Hannah, Joanne and Neville there, who invited them for breakfast. After eating, all of them went to Diagon Alley. While Neville bought fertilizer for his Acanthus Spinosus plants, Katarina was overjoyed and marveled at everything.

At 10:45 am, Flora, Katarina and the children arrived at the station. As always, the Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at King's Cross Station was crowded with mothers and fathers walking to and fro between recommendations, trunks, hugs and kisses. Flora was saying goodbye to her children when she was surprised by a beautiful smile and a pair of green eyes that she knew very well. Harry Potter greeted and asked her:

"How are you, the newest teacher at Hogwarts? Ready?"

Flora just melted inside! Sighing, she replied:

"Yes, I have only two classes. It should not be difficult, since I'm practically a Muggle and Muggles' Studies is nothing but Psychology as I know it."

For a moment she forgot her friend beside her. There was nothing else around them, not even the noise of the train. Then she introduced Katarina and him, and they chattered a bit. Ginny was not together with them as she had an appointment in the Daily Prophet. Harry's eyes sank in hers' as if they were kissing. It was intense. Then they said goodbye.

Flora, who had learned how to Apparate just after Christmas, took Katarina to Hogsmeade. After they got there, Katarina said:

"I don't mean to be indiscreet, my friend, but the way Harry Potter looks at you... Is there anything between you that I don't know?

Flora didn't did not reply straight away. She wondered how they couldn't could not disguise their feelings anymore and was now worried about it.

At that moment, she was saved by the arrival of an owl with a notification from the Ministry of Magic warning her against Apparating without an official license for this, so she deftly changed the course of the conversation.


	2. The most popular teacher of all times

2. The most popular teacher of all times

Whether it was or not true the unusual fact that had spread overnight, no one knew. But, everyone wanted a closer look at the newest teacher of Muggle Studies who would start teaching at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in early spring.

Comments could be heard in every corner of the school. One morning, while Flora was going to the library, she heard a group of students from Ravenclaw whispering on their way down stairs:

"They are saying that the Voldemort's daughter will teach here..." observed a boy of oriental features and long hair.

"Is it true? Oh, it's scares me!" exclaimed a little girl with bluish hair and very large eyes.

Later, near the staircase leading to the dungeons, three Slytherin boys gesticulated a lot while talking loudly enough for anybody to hear:

"So, will she teach us how to explode Muggles? What are their weaknesses? Somebody said she has already crippled someone..."

"The headmistress must have gone crazy..."

"Or must be under the influence of the Imperius Curse."

Despite the playful tone of their comments, they could not disguise a certain fear. One of them risked venturing his opinion and fear:

"But she wouldn't hurt us, would she? She is a Slytherin's descendant. She must have some consideration for the students of _his_ house..."

On another occasion she caught some Hufflepuff's students who had just come out of the greenhouses:

"No, it seems that she is a good woman and a good witch..." Said a girl with freckles. However, her friend with a very pleasant face did not seem to calm down with this observation:

"But she is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's daughter!"

"But her kids are coming to school since last year and have done nothing wrong so far..."

"Who are they?"

"That pretty boy, Ricardo who is always hanging out with Scorpius, James and Albus Potter... And that skinny girl who is always with Lily, bothering Professor Hagrid with many questions..."

"He doesn't seem to get bothered..."

"And thinking about it, if Harry Potter lets his kids near Voldemort's grandchildren, then they cannot be dangerous…"

"Are you sure?"

Another day, near a corner in the third floor corridors, five Gryffindor girls were talking while leaving the classroom.

"My mother told me that Voldemort had no nose ... So, perhaps his daughter hasn't got a nose either... She should be a very ugly woman..."

Right then, Rose Weasley left the classroom and joined in to jokingly confirm everything, while winking at Flora:

"Oh, yes ... She must be very ugly ... and have a bad taste too."

"If she comes dressed in pink, I'm gonna throw up…"

Flora could no longer hear the talking, but she seriously considered using a pink dress in her inaugural class.

So, Flora spent a little over a month having fun with the comments she heard throughout the halls of the school. Her classes would start only in March by her request: anonymously, as she had first wanted to feel the students' response.,. She wanted to have fun in her first class. Maybe she would repeat all the nonsense she had heard about her or boast about the evils she supposedly was able to do. She was still in doubt as to how to approach the point. Professor McGonagall had given her a free hand to do whatever she deemed was better.

The days passed quickly and on realizing her first class was scheduled for the next day, Flora became very excited and a little scared. She knew that she would do well, because Muggle Studies explained much of the non-magical people's psychology, motivations and interests, and how they saw Life. And this was no different from what she had lived and worked with until the middle of the previous year.

The night before the first class, was quite busy. Flora got owls with good-wish notes from several of her friends. But one letter in particular touched her very much

Flora, how are you?

I'm hoping your first class is exactly like you wish.

I will try to be there.

Ginny sends you her love.

Kisses,

Harry

That note was apparently no different from many others that she received all day. But the promise that _he_ would be there did all the difference. They hadn't spoken since the Christmas party, except for the brief moment at the meeting on the 93/4 platform. She was really trying to pretend that it wasn't affecting her, but she knew that most of her heightened sensitivity was directly linked to her missing him. She was feeling strange: too sleepy, nauseated. But all this was going to last just a few more hours, till she would see him. She hoped to see him. She sighed.

Flora could not stop thinking of Harry ever since all that had happened in the Shrieking Shack. Those green eyes... What secrets did they hide? He was not an exceptionally handsome man, but there was something about him that fascinated her but she could not place it.

"Perhaps all that knowledge he has of my father… Or, perhaps psychoanalysis can more easily explain this attraction; after all was he not the man who defeated my father?" Thinking about it, Flora smiled at herself. She ought to sleep. She turned on the bed and looked at her husband lying next to her, sound asleep, snoring softly, like a purring cat…Her beloved husband. She admired him; he could not be a better person. But she did not blame herself for loving Harry, because she loved both of them.

The sun came out and she had not had a wink of sleep. At last she had decided what she would be doing in her first class. Flora got dressed, had her coffee (a very strong Brazilian coffee, with no sugar or milk), said goodbye to Felipe and Yan and then went to school.

She doubted whether old Filch would be awake at this hour. It was early yet. But, as agreed, there he was to open the gates for her.

This time the opened gates had a special meaning for her. She breathed deeply a few times before going into the Entrance Hall. This time, it was no longer a game. She felt the weight of the responsibility to teach in a millennial school. All these choked her a little. But she did not give up, she took a deep breath once again and remembered her wedding (she shared the same feelings in both situations). Then, she went in.

Flora, instead of going to the Great Hall and find other teachers and students, decided to go straight to her classroom, to set "her show". She had chosen a plain black dress, a black cloak over this, very high heeled shoes, and to match with all these, she put on a heavy makeup in shades of dark gray. She wanted to look grimly. But she felt more like a Drag queen than like a bad witch.

She waited for the students with her back to the door, apparently looking at the horizon through the window. She was trying to look very stern. One by one the students came into the room. They were astonished at the strange figure, but no one dared say anything to her. Within minutes the room was crammed. There were, of course, more students there than those originally enrolled for this class. Flora checked her watch and at 8am sharp, she turned to the class and, without showing any emotion, said:

"Good morning. I see that I have some extra students. Let's see how many remain after I have finished my class. Get your parchments out". Flora waited a moment, made an unnecessary movement with her wand to close the curtains and pick up a pointer. Though it all was really unnecessary, since she could reach all these objects manually.

Turning on the projector, she began:"Muggles." Then a sequence of images of people doing ordinary things like driving, cooking, cycling, playing ball, swimming in a pool (nothing unusual even among wizards) was screened on the wall. "These non-magical people... Write down the topics of the trimester:

_a._ _Muggles and their weaknesses_

_b. The atrocities committed by Muggles over the centuries_

_c. Muggles versus wizards: why we are superior_

_d. Muggles and their place in the world..."_

Flora walked around the room as she spoke, observing the scared and disapproving eyes from most students. Then she paused, lowered her eyes and went on looking straight at them all:

"Despite being young and being born long after my father's death, everyone here has heard that he was Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named... You've heard about the things he did and the way he believed to be the best to deal with Muggles and Half-Bloods. So, I believe you must know him much better than me." Flora breathed. "But none of you has ever heard of me. I'm not even his daughter." So Flora caught her purse, took a makeup remover and a cotton ball. She started taking off her heavy makeup, and while dismantling her character, she filled the blackboard writing with her own hands:

_Muggles and their weaknesses: Muggles are humans just like us, but with no magic, so we can learn about their weaknesses just by looking inside ourselves: we are vulnerable when we feel sad, ill, in love, just like them..._

_The atrocities committed by Muggles over the centuries: everything that is different annoys us. But we cannot judge all the Muggles because of one or another who have had financial and political benefits in the witch hunt. It would be like saying that all wizards are evil, based on the example set by my father. I'll explain more about this in another class._

_Muggles versus wizards: why are we superior? Who said that? NO, we are NOT superior to anyone! We have abilities that others do not. It doesn't make us superior; it makes us different._

_What is their place in the world ...? The whole world, of course!"_

The students remained in dead silence. Flora went on:

"The truth about me is that I am a Muggle. Muggle with witch powers, powers that I had no idea of having. I am not different from the people with whom I've spent my whole life, actually it's just that, solving some problems is easier for me."

Flora paused to listen to the silence of her shocked audience before going on:

"Muggles solve their problems with their minds. Their magic is their ability to reflect on the problems and find their solutions ... then you tell me 'we also do it. We're smart too'. So there you get my point: yes, that's why I insist on saying that we are alike. There is no us and them, only us. Some people have different characteristics from other, different abilities, and that's how I want you to see the Muggles: people with different abilities than yours."

Again, her students' bewildered faces delighted her. And she ended her speech wearing no makeup at all, rolled a yellow and pink scarf around her neck (to break the black of her clothes), and then looked at each one of them in the eyes and asked:

"How many of you are Muggle-born or Half-blood? Do you believe that it makes you any different from wizards who come from long pureblood ancestry? No. We are all equal. Being a witch is no guarantee of anything, nor is being a Muggle. I am Lord Voldemort's daughter and he was Half-blood - but he often hid this information, of course. And he judged people by their lineage. I beg you: please don't repeat his mistake."

Silently, Harry took off his invisibility cloak, at the back of the class.

"And if my presence here at school still threatens anyone, the Head of the Aurors, present here at the back of the class, can help you." Flora said, pointing at Harry with her eyes.

All of them turned back, the comments inevitable. Flora waited for the students to calm down and absorb her words and then concluded:

"Now that you know that I will not eat children up for breakfast, or explode a Muggle just to hear the sound it makes – I'm not a Beedle's nor a Fairy tale's character, I request that please, only those who are really interested in Muggle Studies should keep coming to this class. Whoever wants to know more about me can come and see me outside class hours. The same goes to those who want to tell me all the bad things that my parents did to their family. In this case, we will mourn together over them. The class is over. Thank you."

While waiting for the students to leave the class, she turned to Harry:

"Good morning, Mr. Potter. Did I pass the test or the Ministry still thinks I'm a threat?"

Harry smiled.

"I came up with the supposed mission to check what you would talk in your first lesson because some school board members were afraid that you would bewitch the students or form an evil army. But in fact I was afraid that someone would attack you. I feared for you, Flora."

"Harry, they're only kids! Students are just curious. And I would have been able to defend myself."

"Still, I feared it." Harry smiled again.

Flora could not say how she felt during the time she spent away from him and how happy she was to meet him again. But her eyes spoke for her. Professor McGonagall stopped and disturbed their eye lock by inviting them to discuss the success of Flora's inaugural class. After that, Harry returned to the Ministry again leaving a void in Flora's bosom.


	3. The hidden secrets of Slytherin

3. The hidden secrets of Slytherin

After the first class, only the students actually enrolled for Muggle Studies continued to attend classes leaving enough free time for their teacher to roam throughout the castle.

Hogwarts was a very seductive place for everyone. Especially for Flora. She spent much of her free time at the school library researching about charms and spells. Her curiosity led her to develop eccentric habits, like, spending all day observing the behavior of the castle's bewitched stairs, which insisted on changing directions to confuse the inattentive students. She needed to know whether their movements were random or whether the students' will was somehow considered – so that it would determine the existence of a kind of an intelligence in the structure of the castle. The only one that gave attention to her concerns was the teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts, the Bulgarian Viktor Krum.

Viktor was Harry's old friend. After his retirement from professional Quidditch League, Harry suggested Professor McGonagall should hire him as a DADA's teacher. Especially considering the fact that he had studied in another magic school, the Durmstrang Institute, that emphasised the study of the Dark Arts - though for defense or for use was a doubt for all.

Viktor and Flora developed various theories about the bizarre behavior of the school's structure. They spent hours discussing their theories. While Flora believed it to be something totally random, Viktor had already determined two advanced mathematical formula: one of them which supposedly could predict the stairs movement; the other which included the exact time the steps vanished (in addition to those permanent vanished steps halfway up that everybody had to remember to jump). Flora looked at his formulae and found a mistake, but decided not to show it, since Professor Neville and she had bet that Krum would not find the answer to these puzzling movements. Krum, sure of his theory, decided to try it blindfolded. Of course the test had no good results, but it proved to be great fun for all of them.

Usually Flora was not fooled by the stairs. She always managed to get to her destination without detours. Only in two cases she did not: once when Harry was at school (the stairs apparently wanted her find him) or second time when she was wandering around the castle just for pleasure. One day she was wandering in the corridors leading to the stairs just to spend time. She walked down a hallway and to her surprise she realized that she was in front of the ladies room, which gave access to the Chamber of Secrets. She had not gone back there since that day with Harry and Hermione. Sure that the castle itself was leading her to the chamber, she went in.

She went down to the depths of the castle. The silence pleased her. She went into the Chamber of Secrets and smiled. The greenish atmosphere calmed her down. She looked carefully around, she did not understand why, but she felt better here than anywhere else she had been before. Then something got her attention: there was a small passage in the Slytherin's stone face, beside its right ear. Earlier, Flora had bruised her left eye on a bush before leaving home. The left eyelid was swollen and it could only be opened with great effort. She forced herself to open her eye and the passage disappeared. She repeated this test several times. A passage which only could be seen when there was no sense of depth was intriguing. Then, with her good sense suppressed by her curiosity, which was exacerbated by her research about the intriguing magic stairs, she decided to go there and investigate.

After a grueling and exhausting climb - she momentarily forgot that she could have flown there - she entered the little passage without difficulty. It was not larger than one body.

"_Lumos_."

The wand's light revealed a very high wall, completely filled by inscriptions and drawings. It seemed part of a study of constellations combined with spells.

"Wow!" Flora shouted excitedly as looked at this carefully. She thought that maybe she should call Viktor to give his opinion; however, she decided to be more careful. They were probably notes of Slytherin. Although Viktor was a longtime friend of Harry and Hermione, Flora did not know how much he would resist in case those were powerful revelations of the Dark Arts. Neither did she know whether she could resist this temptation herself or not.

Flora did not understand the inscriptions, since there was not a title or conclusions, they did not seem to have a specific purpose. Perhaps not even Slytherin had predicted their outcome. She guessed that Voldemort had not seen it, because there was no trace that someone had been there in the recent centuries.

Flora didn't know whether Voldemort (the only one who had come there before Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron) had been interested in centaurs either. Actually, she did not know many things about her father... Anyway, there were a lot of arrows converging to that word: centaur.

Flora wrote down carefully some parts of the inscriptions. She would begin to study them that night; which coincidentally or not, Felipe and she had already agreed to spend together a romantic evening watching the stars.


	4. Firenze's Revelation

Firenze's Revelation

For Flora, looking at the stars with her head in her husband's lap meant much more than a mere study, it meant endless love. Love almost strong enough to make her forget Harry. But each and every greenish twinkle made her remember him again. Even Felipe's lap reminded her of Harry's as it gave her the same sense of security; the same sense of affection, and the same sense of comfort as when they were at the Shrieking Shack. It had already been three months since that incident, but it seemed only a day ago. Those memories were too fresh and livid in her mind.

The notes she took in the Chamber of Secrets made no sense. They were a riddle to her, which left her even more curious. The only clues were the words _centaur_ and _dragon_. At least those words were the only ones she could understand, from that mix of Latin and Archaic English. She continued to try to decipher the rest of the notes by looking at the constellations observed on the drawings related to her present studies and was amazed to see that they were similar to those from Slytherin's inscriptions. Not exactly the same, but very similar. She pointed out this similarity to Felipe but he did not seem to be much interested in it, since he believed that any prediction or spell that depended on the position of the stars was something that could not be trusted. But she did not mind him. Just before falling asleep, Flora decided that she would ask centaurs for help the next afternoon.

The next day, after school, she went back again to the Chamber of Secrets. She studied the notes made in stone more carefully. Where would they take her? _Draco potentiam_. Dragon Power. This she understood or at least she thought she did. They looked like as something that would give someone powers similar to the dragons. She smiled. She did not want to spit fire out of her mouth. What other powers did the dragons have?

She left the chamber and went to Hagrid's hut. Maybe he would have a clue. However, she could not tell him what she was really searching for. It was something she wanted to do on her own.

Hagrid greeted her as always, with a bright smile on his large old face. They walked along the edge of the Forbidden Forest, talking about various magical creatures. It was an easy and pleasant talk, since Flora respected him and considered Hagrid's knowledge about all those fantastic beasts as amazing, so she did not have to pretend interest. She asked about several beasts, including dragons and centaurs. Afterwards she asked him to introduce her to the Centaurs once, as she was interested to know them better. Hagrid warned her:

"Don't look at them as if they are animals or ask them anything that may sound as if you judge yourself superior to them. They will be offended by it. They are very special creatures."

"Hagrid, anyone would be offended by it... and after all that you have told me, it is difficult to think of any kind of human superiority over them. Centaurs do have greater knowledge and live much more than us. I would be very flattered if they just agree to even teach me a little about the understanding of the stars." Flora replied. Then smiling a bit, she said, "I'm sure I'm too dumb and I do not have any such special Seer powers… so whatever I learn will just be by the use of logic only."

"So, let's go. I don't have much time now, because I have a lecture scheduled in an hour. I can take you to the clearing where they rest by day. If you're welcomed, you can stay with them as long as there is no danger."

"Danger?"

"Centaurs aren't too friendly with humans, and especially not with women. But they tolerate kids though... But I'd realize if anything is wrong... I know them."

Flora thought a little about it and decided to take the risk. She did change the subject though. She did not want to have her fear increased:

"Right. Could you tell me more about Thestrals? I am very curious- I'd love to know how they look, of course this means that I would have to have witnessed someone's death... Which I don't want in any way." She quickly added.

"Your daughter said exactly the same yesterday..."

Hagrid replied and so talked excitedly about Thestrals, how they lived, and how he had managed to assemble a herd of them...Then Flora remembered a note on the wall, which suggested something about bare feet. She decided to take off her shoes to feel the forest floor beneath her feet. The moist soil sent a shiver down her spine, but she soon got used to it. Hagrid warned her that she could get her feet hurt or cut by some twigs. She laughed and told him not to worry: she was a witch, and at the slightest sign of pain she would float. Mesmerized at that, he uncertainly replied that not every witch could do that. She was surprised and a bit embarrassed too. As she could float so naturally, she had forgotten that the other wizards had not yet discovered how to do it well. She did not like to feel haughty though.

By then they were nearby a clearing when Flora felt a sudden pain: there was something hard and sharp piercing the sole of her foot. She pulled off the small black stone stuck there. She looked at the stone, it looked like a river stone that had been carefully polished. Saying nothing, Flora put it into her back pocket and looked ahead. The centaurs were resting at the clearing that Hagrid had mentioned:

"Bane, this is Flora, a Hogwarts' teacher ..."

"We know who she is. We were expecting her."

Flora risked:

"Nice to meet you. As a witch, I'm relatively new. So I'm trying to learn everything I can. I want to know you and humbly ask for some tips on the study of the movements of the celestial bodies, because as far as I know that you are experts on the subject..." The centaurs kept hearing with no comments, she continued:

"I know that an ordinary human like me cannot absorb one-thousandth of your knowledge. But if any of you are interested in helping me, I shall be very grateful."

"Firenze has volunteered before to teach humans in the wizardry school. Perhaps he will accept to waste some more time with you." Bane said looking at Firenze.

Firenze nodded. In fact, he knew Bane wanted Flora to learn astrology, as they had already discussed it. Flora's fate was still a riddle for even the Centaurs, which made her very intriguing. They were not used to be in the dark of anyone's fate. They would often say that Flora was the only true Riddle.

Hagrid realized that the Centaurs had welcomed her - for their standards of course, since they did not like to be too friendly to anyone. They had shown a certain respect for Flora though, and this meant that they would not harm her:

"Professor Flora, if you don't mind, I would like to go back to Hogwarts. The students must be arriving."

"Please… I wouldn't like to delay you, Professor Hagrid. Mr Firenze, if you allow me I would like to stay here a bit longer."

Firenze nodded and Flora said goodbye to Hagrid, and thanked him a lot. Firenze invited Flora to walk through the forest, and then he began a conversation that puzzled her:

"We centaurs, constantly assess the stars and constellations. Nothing surprises us. Of course there is always a choice. Pluto was strangely aligned with Saturn, indicating significant changes, such as those that occurred about a thousand years ago. Some disruption. We knew you would arrive. We knew a lot about your arrival and the consequences of it. But we could not predict the course of your history. This meant that everyone was very curious about your person. That was why Bane allowed you to approach."

"What can be so enigmatic about a person as ordinary as me? …Ordinary among witches, of course. I am a witch, a wife, a teacher, and a mother of three..."

"Four."

"Nope. There are three."

''And the heir to the Time and Death, Harry Potter's son?"

"Who?"

"The child in your womb..."

Flora lost her breath as if she had been punched in the stomach… She got sick, and fainted. When she woke up, she was on Firenze's back at the forest exit.

"Excuse me, sir. May I come down?"

"Um... what?"

"May I come down please? I don't feel right, here on your back. Please don't misunderstand me, I know you were helping me, but centaurs don't seem made for riding. I mean, it doesn't seem right. I feel like I am pushing your generosity."

Firenze let her down. Frowning, he looked at her with even more curiosity than before.

"You are a strange witch, Flora Riddle."

"Call me only Flora please. I have not been able to decide what name to use lately... Sir ... Are you sure I'm pregnant? And that this child is not my husband's? I don't remember having had any intimacy with Mr. Potter."

"No doubt about it. It's all there." Firenze said this pointing at the sky. "It all happened just over three months ago."

Flora gulped . She was very nervous, especially considering that she did not remember anything. Harry surely would not have done anything without her consent, but she did not remember having allowed him. The anguish of not knowing, not remembering anything made her almost forget the result of their act: after all she was pregnant! She let out a wail of despair. She was so scared that she hurriedly apologized to Firenze, and set with him the date for the beginning of her private lessons on the study of heavenly bodies.

She hurried out of the forest. She did not know where Harry lived, but she did know that he worked at the Ministry. And as the afternoon had just begun, she decided to find him there. But how? She had never been at the Ministry before.

********Hey, I'm wrinting and wrinting... someone could send me a single comment! (Mrs Borgin)*********


	5. Nausea and Pepper

Nausea and pepper

Flora stumbled back to the castle, a dazed and shocked look on her face. Viktor Krum saw her and was intrigued with the elusive way she greeted him.

At first, she did not intend to talk to anyone. But then she changed her mind and asked him:

"Could you come with me to the Ministry of Magic? I would like to request Apparition lessons for Katarina and Felipe and ask for a license for me, 'cause I was informed that I need one. And was told that it can only be done in person. I also want to know why my request for a computer room at Hogwarts was denied by the Ministry, which is lamentable shame, because it would surely help a lot in my Muggle Studies class."

Krum agreed to accompany her as he was free that afternoon. He and Flora first went to her house to invite Katarina to come to the Ministry with them.

Katarina used to spend her time reading the books brought by Flora, learning some spells with Hannah and helping to take care of baby Joanne. She was still waiting for a license to attend the school library and to learn more about the wizarding world. So, she was free too.

When they arrived at Flora's home, they met Katarina at the gate. She was coming back from Hannah's. Her blue eyes and Krum's black eyes interlocked so firmly, that everything became instantly clear to Flora: the teacher had impressed her friend.

Krum really was a very handsome man: his straight black hair framed his tall figure and ran down his very strong shoulders up to his broad chest. A wide smile and aligned eyebrows formed his face, while his black eyes gave him a solid appearance. Katarina was the opposite of him in her looks: she had fragile hair, and her eyes were very clear and her skin too pale. While he seemed solid as a brick wall, she was fluid like the wind.

Flora smiled and introduced him to Katarina. She thought that they would be a beautiful couple, and that thought made her happy. Silently, Flora looked at the couple in front of her for a moment. Then she invited Katarina to come with them to the Ministry. She readily accepted to come. As far as Flora could see, she was not the only one who was thinking that they would make a nice pair.

The three went to Felipe's store and told him about the last minute tour. He said that he could not go with them, but asked Flora to solve the issue of the Apparition lessons for him. Viktor led them to downtown London by Apparition. Apparently nobody noticed the three people who had just appeared in the crowd coming from nowhere. Katarina said in amazement:

'This is incredible! I am so excited to take this course and have my license to Apparate!'

Viktor smiled too and told Katarina about his first experiences with Apparition. Flora followed their conversation or a while, but it soon faded away. Her focus was elsewhere.

They got to a street with little movement and with offices on both sides. Krum showed them the visitor's entrance of the Ministry of Magic, which was an abandoned red telephone booth. Amused, Katarina smiled while Flora seemed bothered. The three entered the tight telephone booth and after Krum dialed the correct password ("62442"), they were taken underground.

Not even the grandeur of the Atrium of the Ministry could distract Flora, as she wanted to see Harry straight away. Meanwhile, Katarina and Krum talked animatedly. This sudden interest shown by her friends came in handy for Flora, who managed to disguise her anxiety by suggesting that they should seek for information at Apparition Test Center while she allegedly would try to solve the trouble regarding the computer room. At the information desk she asked for directions to the Auror Office and to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement - which were both located coincidentally on the same floor. Then, she went there.

She was blind, with a mixture of anguish and anger bubbling within her. An ethereal voice announced that the elevator had reached the second level but she did not even remember having entered the elevator. But she did know that she had arrived at her destination: the Auror Headquarters. To find Harry Potter in his department was not as difficult as she had imagined. He was dispatching at his desk. When he saw Flora, he let out a smile. She walked towards him.

After her visit to Brazil, she had her hair dyed black again. Now it seemed to pulse with every step. When she got near him her voice seemed to choke and with considerable effort she asked to speak privately to him. He took her to a small room down the hall near the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. It seemed to have been a broom cupboard. Finally, the two of them were alone and behind closed doors, Flora picked up Harry's wand and pointed it to his chest, literally cornering him against the wall:

'Don't hide anything from me: what happened at the Shrieking Shack that night?' She angrily demanded.

Harry looked deeply in her eyes, and, without taking his wand from her pushed it away from his chest; then taking a deep sigh, he said:

"What happened in the Shrieking Shack that night has tortured me night and day since then. I know you can't remember anything because I partially erased your memory."

Flora's eyes widened, she was furious. She started to raise his wand again, so Harry seized her hand firmly but gently, and then asked:

"Flora, please don't come to hasty conclusions. Use your Legilimency in my memory where it's all very fresh. You won't have any difficulty accessing it..."

Harry had barely finished speaking, and Flora was already dipping into his mind.

_She could see him in Hogsmeade, on the street, looking at her with affection and admiration while she was fighting on the roof. She also could see Aberforth carrying Felipe who was unconscious to the Hog's Head._

_Then Harry apparated to the place where Flora was disarmed and hurt. He saved her from falling off the roof and by Apparition led her directly to the Shrieking Shack. There she could see him watching her, while tears streamed continually down his face. He muttered things like, "don't die, my love", "don't stop living." She remained in his lap alternating consciousness and unconsciousness. Her face and arm was bleeding abundantly and she was unable to move herself. _

_The snow was falling outside, the cold was bitter. Harry, then, conjured a small fire to warm them up, but it did not seem to be working, because Flora's lips were purple. Then he opened his shirt to warm her in his chest. Gradually her color came back. They talked a bit. Warm and with her wounds magically closed, Flora seemed to be regaining her strength. Meanwhile, the exchange of love glances was intense between them. So she withdrew from him and immediately began to shiver with cold. He noticed that and concerned for her, suggested that she should come back closer to the warmth of his body. Flora did as was told. Then, without speaking, she began caressing his chest under the pretext of warming her hands. Their acts proved to be a lame excuse. Without being able of holding themselves anymore, they kissed. Harry tried to withdraw because he was looking after her injuries. However, she assured him that nothing but her heart was bleeding. And that he was the only treatment she needed then and there. Without looking at him, she said:_

'_Since the first day we met it is growing inside me… something that drives me crazy, that makes me want you, makes me want to open my body, merge my soul with yours. Maybe this isn't right as we have our lives and our families, but... I can no longer wait, no longer. I need you otherwise I will explode and…'_

_Harry put his hand on her chin and raised it lovingly, then he looked in her eyes and said:_

_'I know exactly how you feel, Flora, because I feel the same - I know it's wrong, I know we could not - but I fell in love with you and I cannot pretend this is not happening ... '_

_The two of them were just a few moments looking at each other's eyes without saying anything, so Harry brought his face closer to her and kissed her again.. Without another word, she gently took off their clothes and the two of them turned into what they most desired. Harry received Flora's love very tenderly and carefully. But after all was done, she started crying which puzzled him very much. She begged him to erase that magical moment from her memory. And she also implored him to try to get away from her so that their lives could go back to normal. He was reluctant. Then she insisted: remembering it would only mean suffering to both of them, because all that tenderness between them could not happen again. With tears in his eyes, he erased her memory:_

'_Obliviate.'_

_He silently continued taking care of her for the rest of the night. Infinite sadness shadowed his green eyes._

Flora turned her attention to the Ministry. Her mind did not really keep the memory of that moment, but her body did. She felt a warm pain permeating all her flesh as if it had retained the memory of all that tenderness. Tears welled up in her eyes and she realized that Harry was weeping silently as well. She breathed deeply, hugged him and apologized.

'How did you know that something else had happened that night?' Harry asked.

'I was feeling weird, but I hadn't suspected anything. Coincidently, I also had the strange feeling that something was wrong because I sensed you were keeping away from me. Nevertheless, I tried to respect you - I should go ahead, despite I missed you so much... However, this morning I talked to the centaurs. Firenze revealed something to me. I don't quite know how to tell you, but... I'm pregnant.'

Harry looked at her in amazement. He sniffed, shook his head and asked:

'Are you sure?'

'I have all the symptoms: sleepiness, euphoria, nausea, and a craving for pure pepper ...'

'How do you know that this baby isn't Felipe's?'

'He and I decided to have no more children because I'm not young anymore. So we always take precautions. But Firenze talked about the baby and his fatherhood. He said very clearly that according to the stars, I was bearing your child. I don't know what to do.' She said, caressing her belly.

'Don't worry about anything now. Let's think. Don't talk about that to Felipe yet, let's think of a solution out together. Perhaps the best one is to let Felipe believe the baby is his. I feel horrible at saying this, a bloody coward, but I don't want to destroy both our families.'

'Me neither ...' Flora agreed.

'But I'll never be away from you. I want to follow the growth of our child very closely, just as I'll do with the others -. Perhaps officially I could be his godfather ...' He made a brief pause, held her hand and confided:

'Flora, I love you.'

Harry hugged and kissed her, then kneeled and kissed her belly. Once again they felt all that painful love. Flora narrowed her eyes and tightened her lips. Then she asked him:

'Harry, am I repeating the story of Bellatrix, my mother? Having a son from forbidden love? But my baby will not have the same fate as me nor as my father. I already love this child. I could never abandon him…'

Harry got up to caress her hair, looked her deeply in the eyes, and tenderly smiling said:

'Don't worry about it. The baby will have a great mom, and maybe two fathers... And if our baby is lucky he'll have your eyes.'

'I want him to have yours.' She smiled and cried as the same time.

Feelings of pain and joy mixed within them. They were distressed. Their hearts were almost exploding. He hugged her. They breathed heavily. Then they kissed again. Tears streamed down their faces. And their hug supported each other.


	6. Star Anise

**Star Anise**

The darkness of his room was Harry's best friend since that night in the Shrieking Shack. Ginny was breathing softly beside him. At least he had not denied her the quiet sleep of someone who knew nothing.

He was thinking about Flora again. Flora. He had no doubt: he was dealing with the cruelest witch. She was smart, sweet, gentle, beautiful, and cruel. Not even the Cruciatus Curse that Voldemort had cast repeatedly on him had made him suffer so much. Simultaneously, he felt unclean and wounded. How could she have done that to him? Asked him to erase something so good, so magical, so special from her memory ... And now: the baby. A guilty conscience before Ginny and especially the baby - who would come into the world amid a confusion created by their parents made Harry squirm. How reckless had he been! He shook his head. And then he remembered the image of Flora pointing his wand at him and thought about the anger dripping from her eyes. He smiled. He both hated and loved Flora with all his strength**.**

Harry stood up, wandered around the house, looking at James, Albus and Lily's empty beds. He imagined them sleeping at the school. He missed them so much. How would Flora be now? And his baby was growing inside her. He already loved this child, just like his other ones. Would he be able to hear him calling Felipe as his dad? What a pain!

He went into the kitchen and quietly prepared a cup of tea. The sweet aroma of star anise had invaded his lungs and calmed him down. He watched the steam that rose from the cup as if it could give a solution to which he had no answer. Suddenly, he feared: what if his baby looked even a slightest bit like his grandfather? Would he be able to look at the baby, to see a thumbnail of Tom Riddle and still love the child? Harry was sure he would: nothing could change the feeling he had for his yet unborn child.

Looking at the horizon through the window of the kitchen, he whispered:

'Flora, you are so mean… If I once defeated Voldemort thanks to love, I know you will beat me by using the same weapon… I surrender.'

* Star Anise or Chinese Star Anise: In northern India it is called _badian khatai_.


	7. Bellatrix Black

7. Bellatrix Black

A month had passed since the revelation of Flora's pregnancy, but she was actually entering the fourth month of it. She was lying on her bed, caressing her belly. "There is no greater magic in this world than bearing a child." These words came to her mind at the same moment she felt something fluttering in her belly. "Would it be the baby?" Flora smiled.

She was thinking of Harry too. How could she have asked him to erase something so beautiful from her memory? She had been so mean and selfish... Their encounter had been a sign of love, and love could not be wrong. Not when a new life had been conceived. She looked at Felipe who was fast asleep and purring like a cat. What would he be dreaming of? She felt so distant from her husband, she missed him. To worsen her feeling, she had not told him about her pregnancy yet and didn't think that she could ever tell him the truth. She tried to be as away from him as possible because she did not like lying and she could not lie especially to Felipe. But she decided she would not make up any lie: it would only be a secret. He would surely love her son and would become his father, just as hers had always been to her. Not her biological fathers, but the real one, who had taught her everything. The difference was that the adoption was neither a choice to Felipe, nor was he aware of it. Cruel? Not as much as Harry, who would have to see his son growing up considering Felipe to be his dad. But what of it? It was not possible to please everyone! She should tell her husband about her pregnancy as soon as possible.

Tired of turning restlessly around in bed, she got up. It would be impossible to sleep with her throat burning like that. Then, in the dark, silently, she walked to the kitchen. The hem of her sweater was trailing on the floor producing a snake-like sound. She sniggered at this: besides speaking to snakes, she walked like them now. That left nothing behind for her to become a perfect snake. She prepared a glass of iced water with a few drops of lemon juice to get over her uneasiness. Then, the black brightness of the stone over which she had stepped in the Forbidden Forest months before, called her attention. She had forgotten all about it. She grabbed the stone that was lying on a shelf. It had a very curious cut. She turned the stone around between her fingers while drinking the water with lemon in small sips. She was feeling a deep loneliness. She thought about Bellatrix. Her mother had had a love story similar to hers. Looking at the stone in her hand, rolling it in her fingers, she got lost in thoughts. What if Bellatrix had known that her baby was Tom Riddle's daughter and not Rodolphus Lestrange's? Flora pitied her birth mother… Life had denied Bellatrix any joy since she never knew that a daughter had been conceived out of her greatest love!

Then, Flora did not believe what she saw: she was in front of the faded image of a woman who curiously watched her. Flora recognized Bellatrix because her birth mother looked like her sisters and Flora. She looked much like Andromeda, but darker, just like her hair, while her attitude seemed like Narcissa's. Was she a ghost?

They looked at each other. Their movements were almost synchronized. Bellatrix looked around, then fixed her gaze into Flora's eyes, and let loose a loud laugh. Worried that it would wake her son and husband, Flora motioned for Bellatrix to be quiet. Then Bellatrix told her:

'Do not be silly. Only you can see and hear me. Where am I?'

Said Bellatrix, while watching around at the kitchen.

Flora answered:

'At my house.'

'And who are you?'

Bellatrix paused at the syllables. Flora did not get intimidated.

'I'm Flora. Who are you?'

'I am Bellatrix Black.'

Bellatrix smiled.

'Lestrange?' Said Flora

Bellatrix twisted her nose.

'I am a Black. And so are you. I feel that. But how? I recognize your eyes ... Would you...?'

'You're right. I'm your daughter. I was given out for adoption soon after my birth.' Flora blurted out.

Bellatrix, without the customary arrogance, was almost unrecognizable. With kindness in her eyes, she lamented:

'How I wish I could have hugged you, my baby! How I wished I could have given my Lord a family! But no, I thought you belong to _the other one_, so I took that potion to get rid of you ... And now here you are before me. My daughter!'

Bellatrix paused for a moment:

'I can see you are suffering as well.'

Deceived by all that love shown by her birth mother, Flora told her all what was happening. Bellatrix was playing the role of the mother that inhabited Flora's imaginary. But Flora did not know that: even though this Bellatrix was only a reminder of who she had been when alive, her essence was still perverse. And Bellatrix ghost somehow kept vivid in her crazy mind the idea of revenge against those who had defeated her. And then the vision softly said:

'My pretty daughter, I'll help you get everything and anything you want.'

Frightened by this promise, Flora let the stone fall. The connection broke. Bellatrix vanished. Flora immediately realized that the connection was made through the stone, so she figured that she better keep it in a safe place ('perhaps behind the pot of the hideous tea she had bought in London…Nobody would have that tea' she thought). Quickly she picked up and waved her wand to hide the stone, as she had not intent to touch it again. She did not want to meet Bellatrix again and feared that this could also bring Voldemort back. Without knowing it, she was right: she had found the only thing capable of bringing the dead back: the Resurrection Stone, one of the Deathly Hallows. The same stone which Harry had dropped in the woods twenty years ago, and that once had belonged to her ancestors.


	8. The Small Shadow

The small Shadow

The sun came out timidly warming and dissipating the fog that had formed overnight. Flora woke up unwell, and with a very strong desire to go back in time... But she knew that even if she was indeed able to do that, she wouldn't be able to avoid all the actual confusion. Passion had been stronger before and would still be so, whenever she returned to that day when she could not hold herself. There was an uncontrollable attraction between Harry Potter and her. And she was aware of it.

Flora prepared an elaborate breakfast for her husband, even though she knew that he would not have more than a glass of chocolate milk and would also have no muffins, biscuits or rolls. He would not touch the fruits either. Maybe with luck, he would agree to take something to work to eat later. She needed him to accept and agree to what she would produce, like the child in her womb. She looked at the teapot that hid the black stone. Should she tell Felipe? Or rather, will she be able to tell him? Flora did not want to worry her husband. She did not intend to touch that stone again since she was afraid that Bellatrix and Voldemort could appear again. Surely this was something to show to an Auror, because it certainly was an object of the dark arts. But she did not want to meet Harry, as he was very busy and she knew that if she called someone else from the Ministry she either would be accused of having forged it, or Harry would come to her; perhaps both. Maybe she would be better take and show it to Krum.

There was also the remote chance that she had dreamed it all, and this thought gave her a momentary relief. However, the cup and the squeezed lemon were still on the sink, and so the stone would surely be behind the pot. And there it was. Flora almost touched it with her hand, then retreated back as if it gave a shock. Then she went back to preparing breakfast. Yan would certainly like muffins with chocolate stars floating on top: "If only I could make them float..." Flora thought while chewing on her bottom lip.

She was a bit distracted, trying to bewitch the chocolate stars to keep on floating even after she stopped casting the charm, so she did not notice Katarina who had just woken up. Suddenly startled, she made a mess with the chocolate, but still smiled at her friend. While she cleaned up the kitchen, Katarina told her how much involved she was with Professor Viktor Krum: they often spent time together and she was planning to meet him that evening at the Three Broomsticks. She was very happy, and invited Flora and Felipe to come too. Flora agreed and said she would love if Hannah and Neville could come with them too. Flora could help them to look after little Joanne.

'The bar was not as dingy as the Hog's Head, but it was still a bar. If Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop had stayed open until evening, it would have been more appropriate for parents with children.' Said Flora.

Excited at the prospect of a "normal time", Flora served breakfast to her husband and son and made the snack Felipe had agreed to take to work. However she carefully added some extra items to it because she was sure old Ab would go to the LAN. His blog "The Old Headless Hog" was still a hit after eight months.

Flora did not have any classes scheduled that day, but she still went with Katarina to Hogwarts, since her friend had finally received permission to visit the school library.

As agreed, Krum met them at the Great Hall. Flora suspected that he must have interceded with Professor McGonagall to give this authorization as soon as possible. He invited the two women (Flora out of gentleness) to watch his class to the first years. Katarina hurried to accept it, but Flora politely declined as she had other plans, which she did not share with them. She was planning to first go to the Chamber of Secrets and then look for Firenze.

Walking among the students proved to be a source of comfort for Flora now that they were no longer afraid of her or what she could do. She greeted all of them, as always with a smile. She was happy, having forgotten a little about herself. Solving Slytherin's riddle was becoming exciting. Then, she quickly went down the depths of the castle. The whole environment felt already so familiar to her that she hardly needed to look at the path; she could walk blindfolded and still get to her particular hideout at the back of the chamber…

Flora looked at the inscriptions, remade some notes and then went out towards the Forbidden Forest to look for Firenze. There the centaur was waiting for her. They spent the rest of the morning in a sort of cave that Flora bewitched to mimic the sky at night. She did that so as to enable Firenze answer all of her questions and try to teach her to understand the "words" of the stars (at this point, Flora agreed with Bane: humans, or at least she, had many questions as she had not yet reached the necessary magnitude to understand the stars).

A few hours later Flora said goodbye and returned to the castle. She was excited with the new information from Firenze, so she could hardly contain her anxiety to return to the Chamber of Secrets to compare them with the wall's inscriptions. On her way, she bumped into Neville who was getting out of the greenhouses and seemed interested to talk with her. But Flora, excusing herself under the pretext of having to hurry up to the toilet, did not stop longer than a second. They agreed to continue their conversation later on, when they would meet at the Three Broomsticks.

Once in the Chamber, Flora excitedly made her way to the inscriptions and started comparing her notes and what she had learnt. She hoped that at least now she could make some sense of some of the inscriptions. And so it was!

Finally the inscriptions started making some sense: at a certain date, determined by the position of the stars, saying the right words exactly seven times, the person could become invisible and could have his powers enhanced. This would release the wizard from the need of the wand. That made sense to her: if children of wizards often produced magic as she herself had in a moment of despair, managed to release her energy without the aid of her wand, there should be some kind of training or spell that made it regularly possible. The remaining inscriptions were somehow confusing, they told of an heir and then a small shadow, indicating again something about the Centaurs. She knew that the positions indicated on the inscriptions were very similar to the present sky. She had noticed it the day that Felipe and she had been watching the stars. But she had not noticed any shadow. Would there be anything in the sky?


	9. The Haunting Madness

9. The haunting Madness

Flora spent the next few days trying to solve the rest of Slytherin's inscriptions. The weather was not too favorable for the study of heavenly bodies. Sometimes it either rained or sometimes became too cloudy! Felipe began realizing that his wife looked strange: she had become very quiet and often looked ill. By not assuming her pregnancy, Flora was not taking the enough necessary care of herself like eating or sleeping well. It was also likely that she was anemic. But she ignored the symptoms: her thoughts were completely focused on Slytherin.

To worsen things, her carelessness did not limit to herself: it extended towards her home, her classes, her family and her friends too, and everything else seemed to be in the background. The constant concern of her family and friends around her almost drove her mad. She did not want them to discover what she was up to. She had already finished decoding the inscriptions. In a way, she felt as if Slytherin himself had been waiting for her.

The inscriptions revealed that a Slytherin woman, who carried a baby in her womb, would figure out the complicated nature of the stellar architecture, and release the sleeping dragon from inside it. Those words kept on twisting in her head. She was anxious to solve the riddle of the stars and to achieve what even her most brilliant ancestor had not managed to. After having decoded it, the right keywords would come out of her. Slytherin had never been able to do that himself, since he was not a woman. Perhaps this had been the real reason for him to leave Hogwarts to its other three founders: to find a pure-blood woman and marry her in order to make her a Slytherin and fill her womb with a child. It must have been just that, which would have made him more and more powerful.

Down in the "womb" of the castle, while studying the constellation of Orion that stood in the chamber wall, Flora felt a sudden urge to spin her body. While she was spinning everything turned lighter: Orion is on the celestial equator and thus the stars rotating in the night sky might be associated with Frigg's spinning wheel. How did she not think about it yet? Flora was feeling euphoric - she found out that it was once known as "Frigg's Distaff" (Frigg's spindle); Frigg being the goddess of love and passion. Slytherin may not have seen any importance in that connection. However, she had; just due to her feminine reasoning. From her study of Orion or Frigga Distaff, Flora managed to get the antidote to anything that went wrong: Lady's Bedstraw (_Galium verum_), she came to know that was a powerful sedative, among many other magical properties. She would use it as a lucky charm and could ingest it in case of an emergency. She felt safe.

This way the days passed quickly, without Flora realizing its flux. She acted like an actor before an audience: she perceived some response to her actions although it was not enough to deviate her from her script. In addition, it was as if imaginary spotlights blinded her and consequently she was not able to see each person's expressions, so that everyone was part of that audience. If someone asked her, she could not say how Yan or Felipe were feeling, not even what they were doing while she spent hours immersed in books or laying on the floor of the Chamber of Secrets, constructing and deconstructing diagrams.

Once, Yan was in the kitchen looking after something to eat, since his mother had not prepared any meal. When he saw the black stone. He took it in his hand then ran to his mother who was in the backyard watching the dogs chase the garden gnomes and examining the branch of _Galium verum_ wrapped around her neck.

"Mom, what is it?"

Flora felt as if someone had broken into her privacy; she abruptly took the stone from her son and replied that it was nothing. She feared for his son, but the fear of having a secret revealed by Bellatrix was even stronger. She was not sure of how the stone worked yet, so she believed Bellatrix could appear every time someone held the stone for some time. Then she left the house hurriedly and went to her refuge in the depths of the castle.

After that incident, Flora decided to carry the stone in her pocket, along with her wand. By the way, the wand was increasingly becoming uncomfortable in her hands once she had discovered that she could get rid of that "appendix."

After Yan had found the stone, Flora felt as if she needed to spend even more time hidden in the Chamber of Secrets, not that she could believe that there was still something that had not been discovered yet, since to all appearance the latest answers for the inscriptions were in the stars. She just felt good being alone there, and often groped her clothes to feel the volume in her pocket. She dared not touch the stone directly, but somehow she felt good about the possibility given by it of having her birth mother so close to her. She thought a lot about Bellatrix, it was utterly impossible to forget how much she had been kind, which was incompatible with everything Flora had heard about her mother. Had everyone exaggerated? Flora tried not to think about it, but the tender way that Bellatrix looked at her was everything she had ever dreamed of.

While laying on the cold stone floor and holding the stone under her clothes, Flora thought: what if Bellatrix had been dominated by the _Imperius Curse_ which was the reason that had caused her to be so mean to people? Or, what if she had only been perverse for not having the opportunity to live her greatest love? And what if Voldemort had fled with Bellatrix as soon as they met, to a romantic cottage in the middle of nowhere? She could have been born in such a place, and the three of them could have lived happily ever after. No. It was too much even for Flora. She waved this thought away. Romantic daydreams did not match anything she had seen or heard about her parents. She got up and decided to look once more at the wall full of inscriptions.

Now that she understood, the inscriptions did not leave her head. They seemed like a dance, seven steps to the right: a constellation, five to the left: the second constellation, a spin: the third one and so on, bowing and making flourishes with her wand when pointing at the stars. Flora danced in front of the stone wall, simulating the spell. But she soon got mad at herself, once she had not figured out their correct order yet. It needed more research. And by repeating the same impulsive way that had taken her there, she left the place. She felt euphoricaly mad but it did no matter to her.


	10. Draco Dormiens Nunquan Titillandus

_**Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus**_

Finally a starry night. After going out many times without giving any explanation, Flora left her husband visibly angry and confused at home, talking to himself. She went to Hogwarts directly to the astronomy tower. She flew from the entrance gates to the tower, because she did not want to go by the entrance hall and give excuses to anyone.

The isolation of the tower, the still refreshing breezes of spring, the silence; everything was perfect. All through the night, she wrote down the positions of stars, planets and other points that she could not identify. Firenze's lessons had been of great value; before the lessons, the sky had just been beautiful for her. But now, the beauty of the bright spots in the darkness was secondary; Flora did not care about it.

With great excitement, almost at dawn, Flora determined the sequence of the constellations which she should work with: Orion, Pegasus, Ursa Major (Great Bear), Andromeda and Dragon. Her anxiety did not allow her to take longer. She wanted and would have liked to start the spell right then and there. However, the first rays of the sun began to dim the light of the stars, so she had to leave it for the next night, which would also be interesting, as it was Friday and she knew that it was Frigg's day. Nothing could go wrong then.

She came home exhausted, but she did not even have time to rest. In addition to her day's lectures, there were also the household chores, since she no longer had Katarina's help. Katarina wasn't at home for much of the time as Viktor had made a point of teaching-in about his studies personally to his girlfriend. Moreover, the two of them spent all his free-time in the field, practicing spells and talking to each other. At home Katarina kept sighing and repeating how gentle and kind he was… But Flora no longer cared about it, she was too obsessed by Slytherin's inscriptions.

The hours passed slowly. Finally, end of the classes, end of lunch, end of the day. All the "ends" had a special taste that day. She felt like a teenager in love whose wish of her first date was about to be granted. Flora was absent-minded while cooking dinner making it too salty. She apologized to her husband so numbly that she did not even hear his reply. Then, saying good-bye to Felipe and Yan, Flora left; once again without excusing herself.

Flora left home and headed towards the field at the end of the street. She was in a hurry as she wanted to test her findings before the nearing summer holidays. She looked for a retired spot and began to walk in a wide circle around it, while casting some protective enchantments which she had learned from Hermione:

_"Salvio hexia... Protego totalun... Repello Muggletum... __Muffiato..."_

Barefoot again, she took a deep breath and looked at the stars. Then, she started the ritual. During it, she repeated seven times the words, steps, flourishes, skips and turns ... As she repeated those steps, she had the impression that the stars were getting closer to her. Then it happened: she screamed, but no sound came out of her mouth. Instead, a huge ball of fire did. The ball hung in the air for a moment and went back in her body, entering through her navel and burning her belly. Then she fell to the ground. The heat ran through her whole body. For a few minutes she felt as if she was on fire. Finally the heat dissipated through her hands. Desperate and taken by the pain, she groped around with her left hand while the right one forced _Galium_ _verum_ down her throat. Until that just before fainting, she unwittingly took the black stone in her hand and called her mother.

She woke up with the spectral Bellatrix looking at her with_ that sweet_ look and asking:

'My dear child, what did you do?'

Flora looked at herself, her clothes slightly singed, and blood running from between her legs. She got frightened. For the first time in days she remembered that she was pregnant. Pregnant with his baby. _His_ baby. She was sorry, for she did not want to lose the baby. Crying, Flora put her hands between her legs. A heat came out of them and the bleeding stopped. "Dragon power", she belittled, frowning. Then she put her hand on her belly, but could not feel the baby anymore. It broke her heart.

_Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus: _now she knew, she should never have awakened the dragon. Perhaps the motto in Hogwarts' coat of arms was a veiled Slytherin's message. Despair! She was deeply disgusted at herself. She should have been more careful. What had she done? Her whole body ached. She panted. And Bellatrix just watched.

Flora's mother came closer to her. Bellatrix took advantage of the confusion to show herself as sweet and helpful as she had never been before in her whole life. She needed Flora to live on. Flora passed out again. When she woke up, she was no longer in the meadow.


	11. The house screamed

11. The house screamed

When she woke up, all the events that had taken place seemed like memories that belonged to another person rather than to her. She looked at herself and got a shock: she was dirty with dried blood on her body, her clothes were singed, and her whole body ached. She looked around and recognized the Shrieking Shack.

Flora wanted to go back and undo what she had done. But how? And her baby? Flora wept convulsively. She thought of Felipe and their children. She had to get up. How had she gotten there? She looked for her wand, but could not find it. Besides, she knew that she would not need it anymore: with just a few snaps of her fingers, and focusing her thoughts on what she wanted, she could do whatever she wanted to. So, she wasn't dependant on the wand any longer. To command it by imagination was much more efficient than to do it by verbal, oral or any other way. By using her newly acquired magical powers she mended her clothes, and cleaned herself up enough to get ready to go home.

She remembered that she had lessons to give that day, but she was feeling so unwell. _I cannot forget to send an owl to McGonagall telling her that._ She thought.

She loved Felipe, how could she have done that to him? The awareness that she had left him alone and abandoned in the last few days suddenly overwhelmed her, and that sadness and guilt weighed on her shoulders. She looked at her left hand, and to her surprise, a ring with the black stone replaced her wedding one. Flora could feel that no frame held the stone; therefore, her skin was in continuous contact with it. She tried to take off the ring, but was unable to do that. She felt vulnerable and hopeless, so she broke down in tears.

Then Flora heard taps on the door. Katarina was there. With great effort she stood up and walked to the door, holding up in the wreckages of the house. She opened the door.

Her head ached. She felt something strange, as if her head was hollow inside.

'Flora! We have all been looking for you for the last two days! What happened? Felipe is so worried, Yan cannot stop crying, Ricardo and Lia were released from classes yesterday. Now they are with their father. Even your friend Hermione came to help us. She's been here since yesterday. Mr. Potter arrived today - he suggested that you could be here. Felipe and he are looking for you in the Forbidden Forest right now, and Hermione is looking for you in the castle.' Katarina said, worriedly looking at her friend.

Flora pondered about telling Katarina a little about what had happened to her. She needed to tell her about Harry and their baby. She needed caring. But something inside her would not let her do it. She only asked her friend to take her to the clinic because she had done some experiments that had not worked out all right. So she did not feel well.

While Flora was being treated in the hospital, Katarina told her:

'There was a break in Azkaban, the wizarding prison yesterday… The strange thing is that the guards believe that Mr. Potter is involved with this… that somehow he contributed to the escape. Very dangerous people, Hermione told me. But she also ensured that Mr. Potter hasn't done anything since he himself had arrested those people last year.'

'Katarina, I think.. it would be better to tell others that I'm here…'"

'You're right! I was so happy at having found you that I almost forgot ... I'll be back soon. Take care!' Katarina went out.

Flora needed to be alone with the nurse. She wanted to ask her about her baby. To her sorrow, the nurse confirmed what Flora knew somehow: the baby was gone. Flora wept in silence, a pain that was only hers.

Felipe and Harry arrived together. The nurse explained that as Flora had lost so much blood, she should remain under observation for a while. Then the nurse turned to Felipe and reported:

'She lost your baby.'

He looked Flora in the eyes and asked her, looking worried, and with teary eyes:

'A baby? Oh, Darling, why did you not tell me anything? I had noticed that you were different ...'

'I... I was not sure, just suspected it ... And besides, I was so immersed in my astronomy studies, as ...'

Felipe kissed and hugged Flora. She gazed into Harry's eye over her husband's shoulders, as if to apologize and ask for support at the same time through her red teary eyes.

Harry, in turn, excused himself and went out to wander aimlessly on the streets, tears streaming down his face, and then he started crying his heart out. Her grief tore at his heart. Next, he went into the Hog's Head and did something he had never done before: he drank a bottle of firewhiskey. Not that it would ease his pain, or make him forget anything. He felt guilty for not taking care of her, for not giving her any support, and for not having taken the child with him. He had to punish himself somehow.

Aberforth tried in vain to give some advice to Harry even without knowing what was going on. The old man knew him long enough to know that Harry was not well at all. But Harry did not heed any advice. He did not feel worthy of anyone's help. To worsen things up, just then he received an owl from the Ministry telling him that he was temporarily suspended from his duties and that he was under investigation.

Very depressed he said: 'A troll is better than me.'

Then he asked Aberforth to send an owl to Ginny, telling her he would not be returning home soon, so she would not have to wait for him. Then he requested:

'Please leave me alone.'

Out on the street, with the second bottle of firewhiskey in his hand, Harry went towards the Shrieking Shack. The traces of Flora's blood on the floor increased his guilt and pain.

Ginny, the Weasleys, as well as his friends tried in vain to get him out of his miserable situation, but he would not give in. Everybody thought that it was caused by his suspension from the Ministry, but no one believed that he could be in any way, involved in the terror that was installed, despite the Daily Prophet forming this hypothesis based on his "guilty" behavior. Even so, he would not tell anyone the truth, it would not be elegant. He was almost on the verge of losing his mind. He had betrayed the love of his life – Ginny, of course – and further more with his beloved Flora in hospital in a severe condition and his baby dead, he could not think of anything, except punishing himself secretly.

He had not felt this way since the death of his godfather Sirius Black. He felt like going back in time and doing something. He would pluck his heart with his fingernails if it could bring the baby back. He did not blame Flora, even though she had been unwise. He thought that he should have taken care of her - despite having the same age she was like a child, he could see in her eye the childish fascination to know the magical world, or the way she sought the safety and comfort of his lap in the Shrieking Shack - all this aroused in him the need to care for her. Which he did not heed. He had failed in his duty. He was a coward – that was what he thought about himself. He wanted to die, but he thought it would not be enough: he needed to punish himself, needed to feel that pain. He felt responsible for everything. He wanted Ginny to hate him, to despise him, he wanted Flora to hate him too and to curse him. He thought he did not deserve his wife or Flora. So, every night one could hear in Hogsmeade, along with the howling wind, screams echoing through the alleys. They came directly from the Shrieking Shack. But when it was searched, nobody found anything, since Harry was under his invisibility cloak.

On the other hand, Flora also felt guilty mainly about the loss of her baby, but also about probably having been caught off guard by Bellatrix. The ring embedded in her skin left her with no doubt that something bad was happening to her. Deep down in her mind she felt something strange, as if her thoughts were being monitored. She feared for her sanity. She did not know how Harry was. Felipe was aware that if she knew that, it would make her even sadder, since Flora was very devoted to her friends. Therefore, he omitted any news about their friend. Felipe tried in every way to keep Flora from suffering, even when he questioned her about what she had done with the wedding ring, he gently accepted when she replied: "I've replaced it by this ring; I found it more beautiful." He knew that it was not a true answer, he knew that something had happened which Flora did not want to share with him, but he did not contradict her.

The following week, Flora was discharged from hospital and returned home. Her children merrily received her. Her friends had worked in her garden to take off the gnomes and had filled it with flowers of various species trying to make her happier and to cheer her up. Flora was very moved by all the expressions of affection and thanked everyone.


	12. Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

12. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Even after some days strange things continued to happen. In the dead of night Felipe would note that his wife was not in bed. He could not follow her, because whenever he tried, she simply disappeared as if she was invisible. Only a small shadow could be briefly seen on the floor near the spot where she had disappeared. She would then return hours later. This happened several times. When she was questioned about where she was, every time Flora would very sincerely, replyreplied that she had not left the house. At least that was what she believed herself.

Summer vacation did not seem to cheer her up. The presence of her children at home often irritated Flora. So much so that when Narcissa invited them to stay for some time in her house, Flora was relieved and let them go without even suggesting to take them there.

Gradually, Flora began to mistrust herself just as Felipe did. He began to make a record ofeach and every time his wife went out and when she returned. He could see that those periods coincided often with strange events, which were later reported in the Muggle's news. It was as if Flora was responsible for all the evil that was spreading across Europe like disappearances, attacks ofon Muggle families, unexplained fires everywhere, and so on. The Daily Prophet, as usual, gave all credits to the fugitives of Azkaban or to Harry Potter, since the few witnesses who could point out a guilt person always pointed him out. That complicated his situation even more.

On the other hand, Flora seemed to be getting sweeter and more dedicated towards her lessons which she had resumed early in the term. It was the beginning of October. Felipe himself checked the content of his wife's lessons, which to his surprise, were real declarations of love for Muggles. WouldWas it even possible that his wife who was so sweet and muggle loving during the day, could even commit such atrocities in the evening? she be able to commit atrocities in the evening and be the sweet Flora during the day. It reminded him of "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde".

After nearlyPast two weeks since Felipe had begun his investigations, Flora found his notes. She was suddenly startled, as if getting out of a trance; she realized that he shouldcould be totally right in his suspicions.

Flora looked at the ring on her hand and immediately made the connection: Bellatrix. So, she focused her mind and was able to notice her presence. Somehow, Bellatrix was with her, or inside her. It was worse than what she had thought at first: she could not devise a strategy to end that connection without her dead mother noticing her intent. That was why all her attempts to take off the ring had failed, Bellatrix was sabotaging her. She would have to dissemble all her feelings, thoughts, plus anything that she decided to do. But first, she needed to know what was happening at night. What she was doing at night. Fortunately, Felipe's notes were all in Portuguese, so _she_ should not have understood that _she_ was being monitored.

What Flora naively ignored was that even this decision could have been shared with Bellatrix.


	13. Spinning and weaving

13. Spinning and Weaving

"Flora forced herself to think strictly in Portuguese while she was writing a note to her husband:

"**Felipe, também não sei o que está acontecendo, mas tenho uma suspeita. Vou averiguar. Me assusta pensar que eu possa ser responsável por todo o terror que tem acontecido, mas, acredite, mesmo que pareça ser eu, pode não ser eu. Das duas uma: ou estou enlouquecendo ou tem mesmo outra pessoa compartilhando meu corpo. Acho que tudo isso tem a ver com este anel horrível. Tenho tentado arrancar isso do meu dedo e não consigo, nem com magia, nem com sabão. Por favor, procure o professor Viktor, Draco ou Harry, eles podem ter alguma idéia. Eu não posso pedir pessoalmente. Acho que meus pensamentos não estão seguros. Se precisar falar comigo, deixe outro recado em português. Não me mostre nada ou fale nada importante diretamente. Dissimule. Eu tentarei fazer o mesmo. E, por favor, não esqueça: escreva em português. ****Te amo. Beijos. Flora"**

Translated only for readers, not for Bellatrix: "Felipe, I don't know what's happening, but I have a suspicion. I'll find all about it. It scares me to think that I may be responsible for all the terror that's happening, but believe me, even if it seems that it is me, it may not be me. Either I'm going crazy or there's someone else sharing my body. I think it has to do with that horrible ring. I have tried to pull it off but it won't come out, neither with magic nor with soap. Please ask Professor Viktor, Draco and Harry for some help, any sort of help; they might have some idea. I can't talk to them in person... I think my thoughts aren't safe. If you need to talk to me, message me only in Portuguese. Don't show or say anything important directly to me. Dissemble your decisions… I'll try to do the same. And, please don't forget: write in Portuguese. I love you. Kisses. Flora"

Flora decided to isolate herself in the backyard, so that she could stand motionless and invisible under the biggest tree. She would spend all day there if possible thinking of nothing, looking at the garden, at the dogs, and at the small, multi-colored spring flowers.

But obviously, Bellatrix did not want that. Instead, she wanted to get this second chance to institute evil or simply to take revenge against those who had opposed and overcome her. That bucolic garden scene left her irritable and anxious. Flora felt Bellatrix's discomfort, but she ignored and held herself back (or rather held her mother back ).

Bellatrix had discovered in Flora a gift that her daughter ignored: the ability to find out what people wanted to hear, which enabled her to reply in the right manner. This certainly was a powerful weapon. With it, she could easily manipulate people. By using this ability, and coupling it with the fragility of Flora's health, she could beat anyone without using force. Bellatrix was delighted with this idea. She wanted her daughter to fall asleep immediately in order for her to go out freely. For Bellatrix. It was very annoying and irritating to use Flora's body, to depend on Flora. And on realizing that now Flora was insisting on thinking in Portuguese, it made Bellatrix loathe her daughter more. They didn't share just images and sensations anymore, but words that did not make sense to her. She was only able to see that Flora was determined to spend the whole day doing nothing under that _damned_ tree. That was tedious.

Unlike Bellatrix, Flora was unaware of her mother's plans. Bellatrix had taken over her unconscious bit, so all that Flora could feel was some inner turmoil, and that's why she was unable of determining what was really happening with her. She suffered cluelessly; and besides she knew that she could not even come up with a plan to get rid of Bellatrix, since her mother monitored her full-time; even her dreams were monitored.

She _was_ Bellatrix now. She could not get one minute rest. She felt strong impulses to say nasty things about everyone, to cause pain or suffering to those who she loved. So Flora resisted as much as she could, spinning her body and wandering around the house. She could not let Bellatrix leave the house either, as she was aware that her mother was mean and she did not want to give her the opportunity to meet any innocent people. She did not even have a plan good enough to get rid of that ring either. She would have to test whether the note or her thoughts in Portuguese would go unnoticed to Bellatrix. It would be a way to get something done. She would have to dissimulate as never before, that was far beyond lying: she would have to lie about her feelings and intentions to herself. She would have to go crazy or pretend it. At least this calmed her down: she understood madness well. Distracted by seeing a spider in its web, she thought she would have to be like the spider, and to carefully weave a web to catch Bellatrix.

The shades of the day had changed; the beautiful sunset colours filled Flora's eyes. She felt like a child again, and that feeling saddened her: her baby would never see the sunset. What a torture: she knew she had lost her baby because of negligence, vanity and ambition. Why had she wanted to be more powerful? At least her efforts to uncover Slytherin's secrets had served a one useful purpose: she could be invisible for as long as needed. As no one could see her, they would hardly come up to her, which was a way to protect everyone. On the other hand, if she had not gone to the end with her research, perhaps Bellatrix would never have had access to her mind. Flora now recalled that she had called her mother herself when she was into the depths of despair. But Bellatrix was not the mother she intended to call, but the sweet mother of her imagination or the other one (the Brazilian who was still alive, so she could not be called through the stone). She heard noises coming from inside the house. Felipe must have gotten home.


	14. Tangles

14. Tangles

Felipe read Flora's note. It was Friday evening, Viktor was travelling with Katarina, and they would not be returning until late Sunday. He sent Draco an e-mail and an owl since he was not sure which one would be faster. Harry was in Hogsmeade. Nevertheless it was proving to be very difficult to find him. Felipe decided to put some notes in strategic locations: the outside of the bars, the dumps, the door of the Shrieking Shack, and Hogwarts gates, so the Auror would find them.

Everyone lamented, but Harry continued to punish himself; he neither accepted help from anyone nor let them get close to him. And after some insistent demands for him to come back home, his family decided in a desperate attempt to let him reflect and come back when he was ready (it would be no more than five days, according to Ginny).

Harry spent most of his time in the Shrieking Shack, either sleeping or in an almost catatonic state, such was the guilt and pain he felt. What's more, he could not and would not eat properly. Instead, he rummaged through rubbish bins for scraps of food. But, his friends realized it soon and ended up leaving aseptic meals for him in the bins that were real banquets; nothing like leftovers. So, when he realized that, he refused to eat even what he found in the trash. Therefore, he became thin and weak. As he refused to bathe as well, his appearance was horrible, almost like his inner being. At least, that was what he could see in an old dirty broken mirror that he found in the Shrieking Shack. But he still did not look the way he wanted to: he was still alive. In those moments when Harry looked at the mirror without recognizing himself, he would ask the shadow he saw reflected in it: "Who are you that are not Harry any longer? Who are you who left a pregnant woman behind and let your son die like that?"

Harry heard the sound of steps from outside coming to the door. Then, they halted and nearly moved away. Harry felt almost relieved. However, he had counted his chickens before they were hatched. The footsteps were Felipe's, who had moved back just to call Harry before coming in.

'Harry, I know you're there. I need some help. _Flora _needs your help. Open this door or I'll just break it down.'

Felipe did not hear any noise coming from inside the house, so he broke down the door by throwing his body against it. After that he laughed at himself and said:

'I should have used magic ...' then, speaking up he said 'Harry, I know you're there.'

Felipe walked to a corner of the house in which the dust revealed someone's presence. Bending down, he pulled off the invisibility cloak from Harry:

'My friend, you need a shower urgently!' Felipe said frowning.

'Flora really needs help or...' Harry asked suspiciously.

'We do need help, all right. The case is as follows: Flora found a black stone in the forest and ...'

Felipe told Harry about the ring and the stone as much as he knew. He did not mention Bellatrix because he did not know about her. After that he read Flora's note, in which it was written that she could not get rid of the ring. He also told Harry about his wife's apparent misadventures late in the night, which she did not remember doing. At first Harry thought it was kind of a ridiculous fantasy to bring him out of his enclosure. Then, he had an insight: the Resurrection Stone, of course! Felipe's description of the black stone matched exactly with that of the stone that Dumbledore had left him as inheritance inside a snitch. The stone that he dropped in the forest twenty years ago and he did not know exactly where it was, since he did not have any intention of finding it once again. But after so many years, how could anyone find it? And especially how Flora?! What a twist of fate!

Unlike what Felipe had expected, Harry refused to go home with him. But Harry promised to help him. He would follow Flora.

When Felipe returned home, he received a message from Draco, marking a meeting at the Hog's Head in one hour. As a precaution, Felipe decided to ask Hannah to stay with Yan as he did not feel at ease to leave the boy alone with his wife, since he was very intimidated and shaken up by Flora's words. He did not believe that his wife would be able to hurt her own child, but what if she was possessed by something or someone? He had never believed in that kind of thing, but after knowing the wizarding world, he no longer doubted the existence of anything.

After making sure that Yan was not at home, Flora decided to show herself up to Felipe so as to fake a daily scene to Bellatrix. Felipe was exhausted after a whole day looking for a way to get help. His wife acted as usual, doing the dishes at the kitchen before playing the piano.

She was playing Pachelbel's Canon, when Felipe approached her with his violin to join the music. The image of her long and white fingers moving with suavity gave her peace. They exchange lovely glances and a sweet kiss at the music's end. Then he said the boys would be meeting at the pub, at night fall (it was almost night fall).She smiled and told him that she would retire early, she intended play one or two pieces before bed.

'One or two pieces?' He smiled as he knew that 'play one or two pieces' did not mean his wife would go to bed soon. She replied smiling too:

'I let you leave me here alone with a condition: play one more music with me. I let you choose the piece.'

Smiling, he took his violin and began performing Bachianas # 4, from Villa-Lobos. She followed him. At the end, Felipe kissed her and went out. She played "Pictures at an Exhibition", from Mussorgsky, the full crazy melody. After a forty-five minutes she was exhausted, but a little euphoric. Then, before go to bed, she played Beethoven's Moonlight.. She was sleepy, but forced herself to think of innocent things in Portuguese, like lullabies... Then Flora noticed Bellatrix awakening. She knew she could not pretend to be asleep, because Bellatrix would feel the lie, so she decided to remain in a state apparently oblivious to reality, singing the same Brazilian lullaby over and over again. Accepting commands of Bellatrix over her body, Flora stood up and put on a black dress, the same one she wore in her first class at Hogwarts – her most dark dress. Without turning on the lights, she left the house. She did not look sideways or backward. Flora struggled to keep the apparent alienated state that seemed to satisfy Bellatrix.

Then she saw Harry rummaging through a rubbish bin next to the Three Broomsticks. He was waiting for her indeed.

She felt within herself Bellatrix's pleasure of triumph; she had defeated Harry Potter. Over there, rummaging through the rubbish, he was less than nothing. And with Flora even more powerful, Bellatrix felt she could do anything using Flora's body, even get a body for herself. Bellatrix intended to attack Harry, but this time Flora was awake: so she held herself back, or rather, she held Bellatrix back once again. This made Bellatrix angry, but Flora did not let anger spill out of her. That left her feeling like she would implode!

Harry looked at Flora-Bellatrix standing across the street with her eyes fixed on him. At first he did not recognize her posture. Her body had none of Flora's lightness that had always impressed him so much; her lightness of feelings turned into gestures. He looked up, cocked his head sideways to see better, then he saw the ring brightness. The black stone, a Death's gift for Peverell. At that moment he saw Flora's swollen skin around the ring stuck in her finger. He looked back at her face and recognized that insane gleam in her eyes. He had not seen it for twenty years, but she had the same way of looking, the same way of posing her body carelessly.

'Bellatrix!'

Flora could not hold back anymore. Bellatrix bursted out laughing. Then, she said with her false sweet voice:

'Have you missed me, my love?'

Bellatrix pouted her lips simulating a kiss. She laughed a lot, cackled irritatingly. Harry tried to grab his wand from an inside pocket, but Bellatrix snapped her fingers and disarmed him. Then she laughed wildly. He looked at her bewildered.

She said 'You are despicable ... still weak. But I will not waste my time with you.'

After saying that, Flora disapparated, leaving Harry alone in the street. He went to meet Felipe as he had seen him going to the Hog's Head a little earlier. Aberforth received him suspiciously:

'I won't give you any drink, Harry.'

'I won't drink. I want to speak with Felipe.'

Aberforth took him to a secluded corner where Felipe was talking to Draco. Felipe had his back to them, but he did not have to turn around to see who had arrived:

'Potter, you still need a shower.' Felipe grinned.

Draco greeted him with a respectful nod. Felipe stood up and gave him his chair, conjuring up another one for himself.

'I saw her. It's Bellatrix for sure. The black stone in the ring has the power to bring the dead back, I myself had dropped it in the middle of the Forbidden Forest 20 years ago, I don't know exactly where. It's very dangerous. I didn't think that anyone would find it. I used its power then, but my experience was very different, the one who came back to me couldn't be seen or heard by anyone else.'

Draco asked him:

'Did you _see_ my aunt Bellatrix?'

'Nope. I just saw that Flora seemed different; she looked like Bellatrix ... So, she was possibly possessed by her ... But I can't understand how she got to do it ... The people that came back to me had no interest in staying…' And turning towards Felipe, he asked: 'You said that Flora tried to pull off the ring and she couldn't do it … Did she really try it?'

'Yeah, I found her message saying that there was no way she could do that. Perhaps Bellatrix wouldn't let her. What do you think?'

'Maybe.' Harry nodded.

Felipe was somewhat relieved to know that his wife was not crazy. There should be a means of breaking the connection with Bellatrix and save Flora. He was being helped by two experts, they would hopefully succeed, he thought. Draco interrupted his thoughts:

'Harry, by matching the results of the recent strange events I've been monitoring with Felipe's notes, it can be established that the person who is doing them is remaking the same paths that Voldemort made in the past. Moreover, they actually coincide with Flora's disappearances every night. I even thought that it was _him_ in person, but it seems that it was Flora, or yet, Bellatrix - which makes sense, as Flora couldn't know Voldemort's paths ...'

'Of course not!' Replied Felipe. Draco went on:

'And it seems that while she's trying to raise an army, she's seeking something. People who work with Death Studies are disappearing. I think she's looking for the place where Voldemort's body was buried. But this place remains a secret. I myself have no idea where it is.'

'But it doesn't make sense, she should know that it's not possible to resurrect the dead, right?'

Felipe ventured a guess:

'Maybe she doesn't know. At least she herself returned in a way, didn't she?'

Harry frowned, his eyebrows knitted together, thought a little, and then turned to Draco:

'Draco, we have to act fast, now that we know that Bellatrix is behind everything that's happening, we can't waste any more time. I don't think there're any limits to her madness. After all, there never was. And there's one more detail: I saw her casting a non-verbal spell without using a wand. Perhaps it is possible for dead people, but I don't really know how she got it ... and it scares me. I don't know what it means ...'

Felipe tried to calm Harry down:

'Since the day Flora has returned from the hospital, she hasn't used her wand. She says that she no longer needs it. Besides, she has done nothing different from what we're used to seeing her do daily: that is, her usual magical chores ... Flora remains the same. She's just sad for having lost our baby ... I found it strange she was going out every night, mainly because, she herself didn't know that she was doing that. Moreover, she couldn't tell me where she had gone to ...' Felipe sighed. 'You'll be able to free Flora and take Bellatrix off her, won't you?'

Draco and Harry exchanged meaningful glances. After a few seconds of intense anguish, Harry said:

'Well, let's do what we can. I think, somehow, I made it a little harder today when I recognized Bellatrix in Flora. She may avoid contact with your family or hide somewhere. We would have to earn her trust ... Draco, you could approach her as a Death Eater ...'

'No, Harry, I'm afraid I can't. Snape could do it so well because he was a great Occlumens. I can't do the same. She would find out.'

'So we must think of another way to keep us in her track. But first I need a shower and a decent meal. I was really going mad, you know.'

'We do. Would you like to come to my house? I have something that will fit you...'

'No, Felipe, thank you. I'm going home to see Ginny ... I need to apologize to her. Flora disapparated, we don't have anything else to do here for now ... Felipe, as soon as she shows up, send me a message over the Internet please. It's faster.'

Felipe thanked them:

'Right, thank you for your help.'

Before leaving, Draco said:

'I'll see if I can find out something then.'

No sooner had they said goodbyes, Draco and Harry disapparated. Felipe went back home feeling anguished. Were they doing the right thing? Would just watching her be enough? Harry knew the stone; he must know how it worked and how to break the connection. Felipe desperately needed to trust him.

The night was quiet, there was nobody on the street besides him and Dumby, Aberforth's greyish cat. Yan would already be asleep in Hannah's house. He could only wait for Flora.


	15. Bella, Bella, Bella actress

* Once again I'll translate the lullaby only for you, my reader, not for Bellatrix ;) If you're reading it, be kind and let me know what are you thinking about that story. I accept comments of non-users. ~Mr Borgin*

15. Bella, Bella, Bella actress

Flora did not know the place Bellatrix had taken her. It was the first time she was conscious while her mother was using her. It felt strange, harrowing. But Flora was trying not to think about this or let her feelings stand out or otherwise Bellatrix would know about her being awake.

They were in a small town, surrounded by plantations of a creeping plant. Was it potato? Flora did not recognize the vegetable, but she tried not to get distracted or she would end up forgetting to sing, for the thousandth time, the same lullaby.

_Nana nenê, que a Cuca vem pegá / Sleep __little baby, or Cuca will take you_

_Papai tá na roça, mamãe foi passeá/ __Dad's working in the fields, and mama is away in town_

_Bicho papão sai de cima do telhado/ __Bogeyman get out of the roof_

_Deixa o meu bebê dormir sossegado/ __Let my baby sleep quietly_

At this point, the song sounded no more than a noise to Bellatrix. At least that was Flora's intention.

She walked through a narrow and badly paved road. The houses surrounded by plantations were very distant from each other. She walked for about five minutes to somewhere Bellatrix seemingly knew. She stopped in front of a big and beautiful house; very similar to the others she had seen: a house with a central door and several windows symmetrically posted on each side. She rang the bell and waited. The house appeared relatively new, it was no older than twenty years. The door opened; a tall, strong, black-eyed, red-headed man answered it. If Flora had seen him on any other occasion, she would say that he was a "metalhead" - with his black clothes, leather, silver chains and skull-shaped ornaments. He was not exactly scary since his face was expressionless. Bellatrix asked him (Flora was so distracted that she was surprised to hear her own voice. In that situation she was just a passenger in her own body):

'Patrick Frizell?'

'Flora Riddle?'

Bellatrix nodded, extended Flora's hand and greeted him with a smile.

'Please come in. So you lived in Brazil? Very interesting. I think your father never learned throughout his life that there was some country beyond the European lands ...'

Flora realized that Bellatrix was annoyed with his comment because she thought _who was that man who dared to refer to Lord Voldemort as if he knew him._

They went into the house and Mr. Frizell continued to speak in a cordial tone. Flora looked at the house. Inside, nothing matched the man's appearance: large armchairs covered with a shiny fabric, decorated with colorful flowers; light-shaded furniture; curtains gently tied with pink ribbons. Was it a disguise or was he in someone else's house? Flora was slightly frightened when she realized he would not stop talking:

'… As I said in my previous message, I don't think I can help you a lot because I spent years and years looking for his grave, but there is no sign of it... Just didn't stop you coming here because I was very curious to meet you. It's not every day that I get in my house a witch from such a great lineage ... '

He looked at Flora with lustful eye. Flora smiled, or rather, felt her face smiling, since it was the _other_ who smiled. She continued to follow him into the house. Naturally her legs as well as all the rest of her body were under Bellatrix's command, who wore an expression of flattery and interest in that strange man. Flora had to force herself to hold back at the same time as she wanted to run away, but only because she knew that she needed to know more about her mother's plans. To go on singing the lullaby was getting more and more difficult.

They entered a restricted room at the back of the house, here, the decor was heavy and furniture dark; red velvet curtains blocked any light from outside, and prevented the light from inside the house to get in through the windows. Back there they were isolated. Flora suspected that the chamber was even sound-proof. That room was the real living room of the house; the first one, Flora thought, was only a fake one for benefit of Muggles or officers and wizards of the Ministry.

Mr. Frizell started a conversation about the places he had been in his search for Lord Voldemort's grave. Flora looked at him deeply in his eye and to her horror, she shared with Bellatrix the result of her Legilimency: he was lying to her: there were bones in the cellar that he had taken from a grave and which he believed to be Voldemort's, but he did not intend to share it with her.

For Flora, it would have been better if he was lying, that way Bellatrix would not have what she wanted. But now, Flora's mother was very pleased with what she saw. Though the lie awakened in her an insane rage, she decided to disguise her feelings- and Bellatrix did it very well, much better than Flora herself. While speaking with that man, Bellatrix showed a keen interest, not in the subject, but in him. She insinuated her body (or rather, Floras body) to the man to seduce him into doing what she wanted. Flora was beginning to get indignated: how could her mother offer a body that was not hers to a strange man, and a body that above all belonged to her own daughter? Flora tried to suppress this feeling by singing faster in her mind the same lullaby as before.

_Nana nenê, que a cuca vem pegá / __Sleep __little baby, or Cuca will take you_

_Papai tá na roça, mamãe foi passeá/ __Dad's working on the fields, and mama is away in town_

_Bicho papão sai de cima do telhado/ __Bogeyman get out of the roof_

_Deixa o meu bebê dormir sossegado/ __Let my baby sleep quietly_

Obviously, Bellatrix was able to behave like that for two reasons: firstly she had no affection for a daughter who she had not raised herself, so the body's only value was to serve her, and secondly, she had a huge interest in bringing back to life her great and obsessive lover.

Voldemort would not leave her thoughts. Fortunately, because of the stone, Bellatrix's thoughts were inadequate to bring him back. In addition, Flora refused to fix his image into her mind. It was enough for Flora to put up with her mother sharing her body, to have her father within her would make her go beyond madness.

As Bellatrix continued seducing the man with Flora's body, the man grew more and more aroused. Flora was beginning to get very worried and afraid of what might happen. Then Bellatrix gave a trump card: she slowly began to open the buttons of Flora's dress... What happened next happened very quickly. As soon as the completely seduced man threw himself on top of her body, Felipe's and Harry's faces (both of their faces!) came to her mind. With that, Flora cursed him:

'_Crucio_!'

Observing the pain she had caused that nasty man, almost gave her an almost sexual pleasure. Flora could no longer determine whether it came from her or from that mad mind which possessed hers.

'I was almost afraid thinking that you would sing that stupid song the rest of the night, my dear.' Flora had quite a scare, as the thought came to mind as it talked to her. So did it mean that Bellatrix was not being deceived? Flora was confused. Then, the man tried to cast a spell on her, but her skillful hands easily blocked his spell. Simultaneously she repeated the curse and he writhed on the floor again.

Flora thought, 'You bitch! You were offering my body to this nasty man!' Bellatrix replied: 'I was just testing how long you would ignore me, baby. How long you would resist me.' Flora felt defeated: all her plan had gone wrong. The confusion in her mind began again, which gave him a new chance to try to attack her, she repeated the curse on him and next, on herself - in a desperate attempt to make Bellatrix suffer a little. Silly her: the pain was only hers. Bellatrix laughed inside her head. Flora was almost insane with the pain and the confusion of feelings.

The pain was excruciating, making her fall to ground. Then the man threw himself on top of her. Flora instinctively cursed him with the _Imperius Curse_. Everything settled down and went silent. Flora was frightened. She neither knew that she was able to use these curses nor remembered where she had learned them. But, on the other hand, Bellatrix was delighted with the results, and commanded the man to take her to the bones that were stored in the cellar. Flora wanted to run away. But her body did not obey her anymore. She was again a mere spectator of herself. She felt very defeated.

They went down a long staircase. In one corner of the tidy cellar, there was a black bag with a human skeleton inside. The man confirmed that it could be Voldemort's. Bellatrix arranged some objects that seemed to be there exactly for that purpose: a big cauldron, some potions kept in labeled flasks. She threw the bones into the cauldron, took a small knife - then she stopped for a moment, looking at the knife, smiling before making a small but deep cut in Flora's belly, just below the navel. The pain was what mattered less at that moment for Flora. Her blood flowed slowly down her skin and was diverted by Bellatrix's magic into the cauldron.

Weakened by blood loss and without control over her own body, Flora could no longer pay attention to what Bellatrix did or said, so she was almost completely surrendering her body to her mother's control. She was cornered in her own mind. Then something went wrong.

Bellatrix was enraged to see that the ritual went wrong. Soon she concluded that the bones were not Voldemort's, but a stranger's. She poured the smelly muddy contents on the floor, and before Flora could prevent her, she said:

'_Avada Kedavra_!'

Bellatrix killed the man who had deceived her. Flora was in shock. The energy that had gone out of her hand was hot and cold at the same time, and it had killed the man. _She_ had killed a man. A very nasty man, but even so, Flora would have never killed anybody. Even if the intent to kill someone had not been hers, it had been her hand, her energy that had done it. And she had not stopped her mother. Had she really not noticed Bellatrix's intentions? The question stunned her. Flora trembled internally. She felt weak. She put her hand over the cut in her belly and it closed. Then she lost her senses. But Bellatrix did not.

Instead, she climbed up the stairs and sat in an armchair. She had to decide where to look and what to do next. With Flora out of the way, she was victorious. She threw her head back in laughter. She could do whatever she wanted with that body. She stood up and walked from side to side, deciding what to do. But Flora's body was exhausted. She sat back in the armchair and fell asleep.

The next morning, Flora had the impression that she was alone. But seeing the ring still on her finger, she believed that Bellatrix was only asleep. Could spirits sleep? She began to doubt that _there was_ a Bellatrix. Had she developed a split personality? She wished to go home, but she felt that it was not safe to expose her beloved family to that mess. At the same time, she knew Felipe would do anything to help her to get rid of the ring. Then, she remembered the corpse that was lying in the cellar. She felt uncomfortable in that house, so she Disapparated straight to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade.


	16. Percy Weasley

Percy Weasley

That ruined house was already so familiar that it seemed her own. Flora was intrigued by the fact that Bellatrix's ritual had gone wrong. Had she used the bones of a person other than Voldemort's? Or did it mean that the ritual hadn't been executed well? Or else - and this idea delighted her – that she was not _his,_ but Rodolphus Lestrange's daughter? It is not that she thought Mr. Lestrange had been a better person than Tom Riddle, this kind of naivety no longer belonged to her anymore, but at least he was a less significant person in the whole story.

But she soon realized that she had to avoid thinking of her fathers at any cost, lest they too returned like Bellatrix. Flora was yet unaware that it had been the rolling of the stone that had activated the spell, and once it had been activated, the mere contact between the stone and her skin would be enough to maintain the connection. But this time, it was her ignorance that protected her, as not even Bellatrix could know about this mechanism.

Flora looked at the imposing Hogwarts castle through the cracked window. The autumn leaves all along the way to it gave a special colour to the landscape. Would they find a teacher to replace her? She missed her students, her classes, her co-workers. Nevertheless, she ought to stay away. She would not give Bellatrix the chance of hurting anyone else. She would be stronger. She tried to force the ring out of her finger again. It did not work. She tried to break it with a stone. Ironically (and Flora laughed at this) she got a purple swollen finger that would make it even more difficult for her to get rid of the ring.

Flora was restless. Should she wait for Bellatrix to wake up, or wait for help, or wait for a miracle? But definitely, she was not the _waiting-woman_ kind. The previous day's events had disturbed her. The icy and hot sensation of the Death Curse leaving her hand, the man's blank stare while he tumbled to the ground, Bellatrix's coldness: all that ran through her mind, torturing her. But there was one question that consumed her even more: did Bellatrix really exist? Or was she a trick of her mind to allow herself to be mean? The confusion was inevitable, because Bellatrix existed only for her; and maybe for Harry. She sighed. She was confused and suffering for missing him, and for missing Felipe too.

She missed her wand. She remembered when she first met Lucius Malfoy and had tried to touch his wand; he had not allowed her do it then. Now she could understand: that it was not the wand that made the wizard, but it was a symbol of his identity. Flora needed a wand to look normal. In a childish attempt she went outside and grabbed a stick to simulate a small wand, but it broke into two pieces when she tried to cast the most innocent spell she knew:

'_Wingardium Leviosa_.'

'What was I thinking? It's just a stick!' With this, Flora concluded and convinced herself that she was definitely going crazy and quickly returned to the house, shaking her head.

She decided to clean the house just to pass the time, since she needed something to fill her mind. While Flora was sweeping the floor, Bellatrix woke up. She felt a great revulsion in her mind. "House chores!" They were despicable to Bellatrix. Moreover they were Muggle tasks: broom in hand, sweat dripping from one's forehead! The discomfort they caused was immense. Then Flora decided not to go against Bellatrix. She kept the broom aside and sat in a corner, where she started swinging her body forward and backwards, as autistic people do, and resumed singing the lullaby. The repetitive motion and the song helped her remain isolated from Bellatrix, and preserve herself. It was as if she was in a trance, although she was still attentive to her mother's wishes and attitudes.

Bellatrix was pleased with Flora's return to isolation. This way she could act without her daughter's interference. Then, without any ceremony, she disapparated.

Flora apparated (or they did) in front of an unknown house. Flora thought she recognized London as the place where she was. Bellatrix had come without warning, so nobody was waiting for her. She concentrated on becoming invisible and waited. Minutes later there came a tall, vivid red haired man, wearing horn-rimmed glasses, a well aligned suit, and carrying a briefcase in his left hand that matched his leather belt and shoes. He bade farewell to the woman at the door, went down one step, and then, from Flora's involuntary thought, came the curse:

'_Imperio.'_

Subsequently, the man went downstairs straight to Flora, held out his hand and the two of them disapparated under Flora's command. They came then to Ministry of Magic.

Percy Weasley took her into his office, closed the door and they talked. Flora-Bellatrix asked:

'Where was Lord Voldemort buried?'

'I don't know… Many unidentified bodies were buried in different places to avoid pilgrimages and homage. The bodies' identity was a mystery even for those who undertook such burials, since all the bodies were disfigured by magic… Ministry's caution… So, nobody could tell whether it was Voldemort's or a Death Eater's. As far as I know, the Aurors who did the work also had their memories erased. Perhaps the only one who really knows the place is Harry Potter. He was present during these procedures. I don't know if his memory was also erased... That was so long ago.'

'Harry Potter. Always Harry Potter.'

She turned away from Percy Weasley's office (his name was on the front door of the office: Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic), and went out without breaking the curse. Flora retained this information for herself. Then she went to the Ministry Hall and from there, she disapparated to Hogsmeade.


	17. Flashes of another person's life

17. Flashes of another person's life

Something happened during her return. When Flora apparated to Hogsmeade she almost became unconscious as if she was going to faint, but she still could stand up. That meant that Bellatrix had taken control over her body and mind.

Some hours or minutes later – Flora did not know for sure –, when she revived, she was in a forest picking herbs; at least, her body was. Confused, she tried to ask her mother what was happening, what she was going to do and where _they_ were, since it definitely did not look like the Forbidden Forest. Bellatrix did not give her any attention. Flora made a huge effort to control her body, but apparently having spent a lot of energy, she fainted again.

Flora revived for the second time, and recognized the inside of the Shrieking Shack. In the center of the room, there was a steaming cauldron where Bellatrix was preparing a potion. She seemed happy with it, Flora could feel her excitement. In fact, they were sharing it, and that scared Flora. The Brazilian witch could hear words in a language she did not even know, coming out of her mouth, while her body was dancing around at the same pace as the multicoloured steam that was coming out of the cauldron. Even though she had not chosen to behave like that, she could feel that the potion had produced a sense of well-being in her body. It would be great if she was not totally at the mercy of someone else, she thought.

Dizzy, Flora had never felt anything like that, but believed that a person on drugs would have experienced the same feeling: drowsiness and euphoria. What had Bellatrix given her? The answer was almost immediate: in her hands there was a half full crystal cup. Flora understood its content should be the same as that steaming potion in the cauldron as the colour and scent of both of them were identical. Involuntarily she drank a little more; and fainted again.

When Flora revived for the third time, she was no longer inside the house, but in the village watching Harry Potter talking to old Ab. They were gesticulating; Aberforth was frowning his eyebrows suggesting that he was intrigued by something. Flora could not hear a single word from that distance. Harry then turned away and went into a deserted street. As a passenger in her own body, Flora, forced by Bellatrix, followed him. He apparently did not realize her presence. Only then Flora realized that she was invisible. While Harry looked at his watch, she touched her hands on his and whispered in his ear:

'Harry, that's me, Flora. Could you follow me please? I need your help.'

'Oh, Flora. Are you okay? I have arranged to meet Felipe, he should be here at any moment.'

'So come with me quickly. I want to talk about our baby and I don't think Felipe should hear about it.'

By talking about their baby, she hit Harry below the belt. She was sure he would lose all his defences and do whatever she wanted: "damn Bellatrix". Flora wanted to warn Harry not to go, but the words did not belong to her anymore. Her body, her smell, her voice, and everything else were under Bellatrix's control. She took Harry to the Shrieking Shack. The two of them entered in the house. The house had a different atmosphere; the steaming potion of Bellatrix filled the air. Flora strongly suspected that only its smell would be enough to numb anyone. She looked at Harry and he had already changed somewhat as she had suspected.

Then she became visible again. And to her surprise, she realized that she was no longer in the same worn black dress she was wearing before she had fainted the last time, but with a close-fitting dark blue long dress with bold slits, her hair _casually _tied in a bun revealing her slender neck. Even without looking in the mirror, she could bet she wore a light makeup. Flora understood Bellatrix's trick: with that dress that favoured her curves and that steaming potion Harry would not have any chance; _she_ would get everything _she_ wanted from him... And Flora had tried to warn him by mutely screaming without any success. So she could not do anything but watch this anguishing scene as if he was a fly blindingly flying toward a spider web, while she was hoping against hope that somehow it changed its direction. . Much to her surprise, she heard her voice speaking softly, supplicant and needy, while Harry silently observed:

'Since I've lost our baby I'm not the same. It feels like part of my body has been accidentally amputated. I dream of our baby every night. He had your eyes.'

She took Harry's hands to her belly;

'It's empty down here. But it's full of sorrow up here.'

Then she slid his hands to her chest, paused briefly, and then up to her lips, purposefully squeezing her breasts with her arms.

'I miss you.'

She kissed his hands, gently sucking his fingertips. Either, Harry did not realize it was Bellatrix, or he was playing her game. When Bellatrix kissed him, the heat and the taste of his lips tortured Flora, who realized that when she kissed him, some of the potion she had drunk before was still in her mouth. So, when they kissed she inadvertently transferred the potion into his mouth.

He hugged her. Flora could feel her body surrendering to him and all she could think of was that she wanted to tell him that it was not real. However, had she been herself, she would have avoided that, no matter how much she wanted it. But would she really have? The question haunted her while Bellatrix had fun, and in Flora's skin pulled Harry's clothes off. She kissed his neck, his chest. He had surrendered to her touch. Now he just followed her impulses. She threw them both on the floor and began to make love with him in a way that Flora had never done before. It was intense, and alternated kindness and brutality. Shy tears dripped from Flora's eyes. It was not the first time it happened in his presence, so it did not actually draw his attention. She could not stop, but she did not want to stop it either. Her body wanted it. But it was not love. That was not her. They both rolled on the ground, led by her intense movements. With a burst of pleasure, he came to an end. Then, unexpectedly she cast a spell that immobilized him. The purpose of all of that had been just to distract him from his wand. Afterwards she tied him up with magical ropes. Then, while wearing her clothes and getting dressed again, she said:

'Men! So fools! To your knowledge, my daughter, I used the same tactics and the same words when I seduced your father for the first time… It was my invitation for him to fill my belly...' Bellatrix laughed. 'If I had known that it would produce you, I would have avoided it. You're cloyingly sweet... Are you enjoying my show? Don't worry; I will not kill him now. I still need this worm.'

In shock, Flora could not utter anything, even in thought. She feared for his life. It was hard to believe that she had lived the events of the last hour. That had been too much for her. She felt like she was part of an audience of an interactive film, the scenes of which were still embedded in her flesh. Her whole body throbbed, and she panted. She felt weak and worn. Love, desire, and guilt mixed within her. She suffered in the form of the tears that ran down her face, while the words that she could not say made her lips tremble. Because of that, Bellatrix disgusted her even more: she could not be the mother of so fragile a creature.


	18. The unlikely hero

18. The unlikely hero

Felipe waited for Harry in the place that they had agreed to meet. Harry was unusually late and this did not bode well. "Aren't Brits known for being punctual?" He sent Draco a message via Internet – since he had finally accepted that smartphones were more effective than owls or patrons, except in remote locations where the technology had not yet arrived... Frowning Felipe thought that if Draco was still in the Ministry it wouldn't work, as the excess of magic would interfere in the signal. "What if Draco did not receive his message?" He tried not to think about it and went to Hogwarts where he wanted to meet Viktor Krum. He supposed, for all that he had heard, that Bellatrix had a special interest in Harry once he had killed Voldemort; so she would probably try to avenge herself on her love's killer. Then his friend could be in danger and Felipe needed to act fast.

To his relief and surprise, Draco was already waiting for him at the school gates, after he had barely received the message.

'Are we going to meet Krum?' Draco asked, uncertain.

'Yes, the more help we get, the better it will be ...'

Felipe hesitated for a few minutes, then, while walking to the castle, he was finally able to ask the question that would not leave his mind:

'Is Bellatrix able to kill somebody?'

Draco could not believe that Felipe had asked that question, he thought it was obvious for anybody who had already heard about Bellatrix. With a bit of impatience, he answered:

'My aunt has never been a sweet person ... She had fun doing horrors. She was cruel, perverse. I have no doubt that she can really kill Harry, or anyone else, even you and me. Are you sure you want to find her?'

'Yes.'

Draco laughed shaking his head sideways. He thought that rather than being courageous, Felipe was being naive. If Bellatrix was really dominating Flora, he would not stand a chance. They were almost in the school when he burst out:

'You have more courage than judgment. You've never studied defense against the dark arts, have never been in combat, and until recently you even hadn't got a wand ...'

'But I must help Flora, I'd never leave her helpless.' Felipe blurted his anguish.

'Do you believe that Krum _and_ Harry _and_ I, would leave her?'

'Sorry, I did not mean it. I just wanted to help. I can't stay here doing nothing while she is in danger ... She's my wife! Don't ask me to do it!' He said nervously.

Draco could understand Felipe's anguish although he was nervous himself, so he sternly said:

'It'll really help if we don't have to take care of you too. It may also be helpful if you stayed here in the castle to avoid her to get here. Look there, Krum is coming.'

They hastily greeted Krum. Felipe accepted, although somewhat defeated, Draco's suggestion - at least he could be near his children, and this gave him the sense he was protecting them.

'Krum, do you have any idea of how we could rid Flora of the cursed ring?' Felipe asked.

'Not yet. It's difficult to say that without knowing the actual spell that keeps it there.'

'The Black family has always been an expert in Permanent Sticking Charm, but Flora learned some counter-spells with my mother, although they didn't work for sure.' Explained Draco.

Krum raised an eyebrow and said:

'If it's a Permanent Sticking …'

'Yeah, I see what are you thinking about, but all is not lost … I have an idea of what to do. Now we just need to find her.'

Felipe, who looked from one man to the other as if in a tennis match, ventured a guess:

'I guess I know where she is. She was spending hours looking at a house in ruins, at the very end of Hogsmeade, where Harry had been hiding for the last days.'

'The Shrieking Shack. We know where it is. Stay here Felipe, take it easy. We'll conjure red sparks if we need backup.' Draco said looking in Felipe's eyes.

'Okay. Good luck.'

Felipe stood at the door of the castle as he watched his friends moving away. Neville approached him and asked:

'What's going on?'

Felipe filled him in. Neville immediately offered to help them and call for backup - in case something went wrong. Meanwhile he tried to calm down his friend by telling Felipe not to lose hope because Flora was in safe hands.

Malfoy and Krum arrived in the Shrieking Shack quickly, because they disapparated as soon they were out of the school grounds. They had agreed on a plan: Krum would enter the house through the backdoor, and Draco through the front one.

Draco had just heard Flora talking to Harry. Now there was no doubt: this was Bellatrix's way of talking. Flora could not imitate her without ever having seen or heard her before:

'You should know that one day I would be back. All your precautions and your care are useless before the forces of darkness! But I need you to give a single information: where's Dark Lord's grave? His bones ...'

'His bones are gone, he was cremated.' Harry said defiantly.

'You're lying!' She shouted.

'No. when I became an Auror, I personally took care of that because I wanted to make sure there was no possibility of return for him ... Your body was cremated with his as well, if you want to know ...'

Bellatrix tried to use Flora's _Legilimency_ to ascertain the truth, but Harry was now skilled at _Occlumency._ At first he shut down his feelings and memories so as to manage false visions: offered her a picture of bodies being burned. She had no way of knowing whether or not they were real memories.

Meanwhile Draco tried to break into the house, but soon he found out that it was protected by magic. He walked around the house and met Krum, who too could not undo the spell that made an impenetrable shield around the house. Krum had an idea: they would need to stay on opposite sides of the house and cast Stunning spells against each other, so that when the spells met in midair, the Prior Incantatem would be freed, and it would dissipate energy enough to break the shield. It could go wrong, though. If they were not synchronized, Bellatrix could spot and attack one of them, or worse, kill Harry. It was a risk, but they had no choice, and neither any other ideas.

Draco went to the front of the house. While he was doing the countdown to cast the spell against Krum, he heard Flora shouting at Harry:

'Bullshit!'

Hatred ran throughout Flora's body: Bellatrix was frustrated. There should be another way out, another way to bring her beloved Lord as well as herself back. And Bellatrix thought that the most obvious way out for her was to stay in her daughter's body forever. Flora got despaired when she noticed it. And she got even more desperate when she felt that _the other_ intended to punish Harry. She could not stop the Cruciatus curse that kept coming out of her fingers over and over again, without intervals of more than two seconds between them.

Harry writhed on the floor. Being tortured naked made him seem vulnerable. This was not enough for Bellatrix to disclose any feeling of compassion; however, Flora could almost share the pain foisted on his body. The physical pain was intense but could not be compared with her psychological pain that was absolutely excruciating.

'_Stupefy_!' Yelled Draco and Krum at exactly the same moment and finally managed to break the shield.

Bellatrix cannot hear them and spoke to Flora, rolling her eyes as if searching for her in somewhere in the ceiling:

'By the way, I did it for you, my fool daughter! I gave you one last night of love before I get hold of your body forever! And if all goes well, even without his bones, I'll find a way to bring him back ...'

By feeling Flora shrink further into the depths of her mind, Bellatrix again bursted her wildest laughter, while passing her hand over her lower abdomen. After doing that, she repeated the Cruciatus curse on Harry, as someone who had nothing better to do, looking bored.

At this, Bellatrix heard a noise coming from outside that distracted her. All of a sudden, Draco broke in, surprising her. She had no time to assimilate what was happening, as he casted the spell he had learned from Snape:

'Sectumsempra! I'm not sorry by frustrating you, aunt Bella.'

The finger with the ring was cut off Flora's hand. As soon as she was freed from Bellatrix's virtual presence, she dropped to the floor like a puppet with cut strings. Harry was freed from the bonding spells just in time to hold Flora in his arms. She was unconscious, so he made sure she was breathing normally. Relieved, he turned to Draco:

'Did you really need to mutilate her?' Harry asked, a little angry.

'Could you at least say thanks?' Draco replied, equally angry.

'Thanks.'

'Let me hold her while you pull on your clothes.' Puffing, Draco said with wide open eyes.

'Oh, yeah.. right. I had forgotten that I was naked.'

Harry felt embarrassed and quickly put his clothes on. He was worried about Flora's bleeding finger. To his surprise, Draco started a whisper pointing his wand at the cut and before long the bleeding stopped.

'When did Snape teach you the counter-spell?'

'On the same day that you attacked me at school ... Just in case he could not be around the next time you attacked me ... a long time, huh?' Draco said, calmer now, his voice returning to the usual tone.

'Too long. Would you teach me this?' Harry was also calmer and already dressed, asked after examining the closed wound in Flora's hand. Replacing her finger there was now a small red line.

'Of course. Shall we leave?' Draco asked. Then looking towards the cauldron with the unknown potion, he asked, 'What is this potion for? Did she make you drink it?'

'A little.'

Harry still had doubts about what had actually led him to have sex with Flora; whether it was his natural attraction for her or some kind of spell. So, instead of allowing any questions about his relationship with Flora, he preferred to insinuate the possibility of having been forced to do whatever he did that resulted in his immobilization and nudity,. Besides, he would not be able to explain the whole truth without telling Draco about his previous involvement with her. Luckily for him, Draco showed neither curiosity nor surprise at his aunt having tortured Harry naked.

Harry collected her finger with the ring and put it into his pocket. Krum entered the room, took a sample of the cauldron contents and then emptied it. Both of them helped Draco take Flora to be examined by a Healer because she was too weak to be taken there by Apparition, because it was possible she could splinch.

Felipe was distressed when he found them halfway:

'Is she all right?'

'I suppose so... but she is too weak.'

'Oh, my God! You've cut her finger off?!' He exclaimed somewhat confused and disappointed because he had reckoned they would have thought of a more elegant way than this to solve the problem.

'It was the only way to get rid of the ring ... Sorry.'

Harry didn't even say that it was the only attempt that they had made. Anyway, he did not have any other suggestions on how to solve that in only one shot, seeing that it was their only chance. He'd better preserve Draco; he owed him this. He owed him his life, since he had no doubt that Bellatrix was about to kill him when Draco arrived. Then Potter quickly found a way to leave the group because he was embarrassed at being in Felipe's presence (it had not been half an hour yet since he had had a sexual relationship with Felipe's wife; even if it was in fact Bellatrix, or if he was under the effect of a potion , that body was still Flora's. In addition, he also wanted to examine the stone and the ring more closely. He could not lose his focus: above all he was an Auror. Krum also said goodbye when they reached the Hogsmeade Healing Center, since he was in a hurry to analyze the potion sample. It could be useful for Flora's recovery.

Flora awoke on the following day feeling well. As soon as she received the news that she could go home, she asked her husband to call Harry, Draco and Viktor. She needed to talk to all four men together. There were things that needed to be checked or done.

The three men arrived soon after Flora and Felipe had got home. She was not surprised, because she knew that they would be eager for explanations. Flora was exhausted and told them in a weak voice what she thought was enough: she told them about the ring that she had found in the woods, about Bellatrix, about the things she had experienced when she managed to stay conscious with Bellatrix. She asked them to verify if Percy Weasley was still bewitched and to take care of Patrick Frizell's body. She said she could not remember what had exactly happened in the Shrieking Shack, although it was not true. She told them she just remembered torturing Harry to know where Voldemort's bones were. She asked them to keep the ring away from her, as she did not want to see it or know of its existence ever again, and finally, she thanked them all very much for their help.

'... I suppose that my life must follow more slowly from now on ...' She grinned. 'And Draco, don't blame yourself for my finger. You did the best for me. I'll live well enough without it, and especially without Bellatrix.'

She affectionately embraced the four men one by one and excused herself and went to get some rest. Krum asked to have a brief private talk with her. Flora took him to the kitchen, where he said that he had not been able to identify the potion very well, but that among other things, it was a powerful blend of love potion.

'Do you know what she wanted to do with this potion?'

'I think that she just wanted the answers from Harry as well as to torture him, subdue him. She knew he was strong and could not curse him with Imperius. When we got back to the Shrieking Shack - she and I - I could no longer keep my conscience, I fainted several times. I neither recognized the potion's ingredients, nor could repeat the magical words. Sorry if I can't help you more. What I can remember is that I was torturing Harry while he was naked on the floor. This gave her pleasure. It was horrible. '

'Very well. I'll let you rest now. It's good it is all over.'

'Really good. I haven't had a worst nightmare in my whole life.'


	19. Back to real life

19. Back to real life

Ginny received him with much enthusiasm and love. Harry too had missed her a lot. Ginny was his safe haven, the great love of his life. As much as he was intensely drawn towards Flora, nothing had ever shaken his feelings for his wife. He owed her an explanation. He also called Ron and Hermione. It would be easier to explain to all of them together. He finished dressing up and went to the living room, where the three of them should be waiting for him.

There they were. He warmly greeted them and thanked all three for all the support they gave him in those difficult times. He also apologized for his weird behavior. They sat down. "How nice to sit in my old chair" thought Harry. Seeing that nothing had changed at home gave him a very comforting sense of safety. He poured the tea that his wife had prepared. "Sweet Ginny". This time he felt a little less guilty, since he had acted under the influence of a love potion, as Krum had explained to him.

'You all deserve some explanation. This whole mess started because I did not take greater care of something very powerful. As we all know, the Tale of Three Brothers is much more than a children's tale. We have my cloak, and the Wand of Wands, both of which are kept in a safe place and, the Resurrection Stone, which I had left in the Forbidden Forest, near a glade just before surrendering to Voldemort. I believed it was safe there, because I myself could not tell the exact point where I had left it. But someone found it.'

'Who?' Asked Hermione distressed.

'Flora did.'

Hermione and Ginny both covered their mouth. Ron asked:

'Did she ... did Voldemort come back?'

'No, Voldemort did not return.' Harry replied, 'She called her mother when she lost her baby a few months ago ... '

'Bellatrix! I always knew she was dangerous, Flora ... ' said Ron.

'It was not her intent, she was weakened, and suffering. She didn't know how the stone worked; she did not even know that it was the Resurrection Stone! So, it was an accident that turned on the stone. She just thought much about her mother, in what she should have felt when she thought she had lost her daughter. If she had known about the "sweetness" of her dear Mummy, this would not have crossed her mind ... '

They all agreed. Harry continued:

'Bellatrix, who was clever in life, seems not to have changed after death. As soon as she realized what had happened, she worked out a way of not leaving Flora's body, and saw this as a second chance where she'd also try to bring Voldemort back. She made a ring so the stone remained in constant contact with Flora's skin, which was enough to not lose the connection. Flora tried to take off the ring in many different ways, but failed. Even Bellatrix prevented her from doing it... but Flora still didn't know that it was her mother inside her mind. Flora only realized that something was wrong when Felipe told her about her exits in the silence of the night, which she didn't remember doing.'

Ginny was shocked:

'Just as it had happened to me!' Ginny exclaimed, her eyes wide. Even if it had happened over twenty years ago that Voldemort had possessed her, Ginny still held in her memory the anguish that had consumed her. Harry tried to comfort her, took her hand and kissed it affectionately, and went on telling them what had happened to Flora:

'Yes, my love. When Felipe said she did not remember having done anything, I just remembered you. Then Flora devised a way to mislead her mother: to communicate in Portuguese. She left a note for Felipe - in Portuguese, and tried to keep herself in a semiconscious state by constantly repeating things in Portuguese so as to not draw Bellatrix's attention. Apparently it worked for a while and she managed to avoid some disasters. But then Bellatrix discovered her trick and weakened her physically. So Bellatrix went on dominating her.'

'Yeah ... She must have lied to you. Who knows if speaking Portuguese does any good?'

'Ron, at first I also thought it was strange, but it makes perfect sense: Bellatrix couldn't speak Portuguese, so she couldn't understand Flora's thoughts if she didn't show her emotions. And she explained to me that a native language is processed in one hemisphere of the brain, while the foreign one is processed in the other, so she could somehow split up her thoughts. She said it was maddening. I believe her.'

None of them doubted that it was maddening. Hermione then asked:

'But Bellatrix didn't get what she wanted, did she?'

'No. The secret she wanted to know is very well kept by me. I will never reveal where Voldemort is buried. For everybody's safety , even yours.'

'She... did she hurt you, my love?'

'No, honey.' Harry hugged and kissed Ginny. 'She gave me some Cruciatus, made me drink a potion, but fortunately it wasn't poisonous, but I was under her rule until Draco finally arrived. He did it just in time, because I could no longer stand the pain. He saved my life.'

'How can you be sure that Bellatrix does not continue dominating Flora?'

'Well, Draco freed her ... very unsubtly ...'

Harry pulled out a package. Flora's finger with the ring was in it. Hermione and Ginny and Ron had no words, such was the horror they felt.

'Sectumsempra. And he knows the counter-curse, Snape taught him. Sorry about the freak show, but this was the simplest way to prove to you that I speak the truth.'

'We've never doubted you, Harry.' Ginny said, turning away from him with a look of disgust and pain on her face.

Harry folded Flora's finger again and put it in his pocket.

'Well, that was what I needed to tell you. Now I must go to the Ministry to examine this material. Viktor Krum and Professor Padma Patil are in Hogwarts examining the potion that Bellatrix gave to me. Apparently the potion has no more effect on me, but they want to find out if there is any residual effect - like a long term poisoning - well, Ginny don't be afraid, I feel great!' He said while looking in her wide eyes. 'They will take care of it. Anyway, later I'll go to St. Mungo's for sure ... And Draco is commanding some co-workers in following Flora's or rather, Bellatrix's traces in order to capture the Death Eaters who were freed, undo spells, and see if she left traces that we don't know of yet.'

Both Ginny and Hermione were concerned about an after-effect in the potion that could be poisoning Harry - and Flora as well, since the sight of her dead finger plus Harry's explanation had been enough to remove Flora of any suspicion. Ron, though, still kept Flora under suspicion. He had believed for years that his pet was a rat when actually it was an Animagus who had cut a finger to forge his own death. Also he had already experienced the effect of Amortentia (love potion) and poison in the same day, so a finger or a sincere testimony was not to be sufficient for him. Moreover, he thought Flora too pretty to be reliable, but he thought that it would be prudent to keep that to himself.

As nobody had anything else to say about what Harry had just said, and he urgently needed to go to work and get rid of Flora's finger, they said goodbye and he disapparated.


	20. Secrets to Dumbledore

Secrets to Dumbledore

Harry was in his office in the Ministry for hours. He had resumed his post, because he was not a suspect anymore ... thanks to the continuous effort of Ron and Hermione, that proved he had nothing to do with those Death Eaters break from Azkaban. It was found that the people who claimed that Harry had authorized the prisoners' release acted under Imperius Curse or had their memories altered by Confundus Charm. Hermione was brilliant. And Ron was a loyal friend. He owed them much more than his life.

He had tested the ring in various ways; definitely there was no more power in it than in the original one. The ring was very different from the one that was with the Gaunts and had served as a Horcrux to Voldemort. Although the stone was the same one, it had not been turned into a Horcrux again. It was not soaked with poison or other spell, but he couldn't find out how it glued to Flora's finger, either. Harry examined it carefully. He had utterly failed to get it off her finger. It was terrible to see it there. At least it didn't bleed anymore. He did not feel it was safe to leave that ring at the Ministry. Nobody should get hold of it, since its power was extremely dangerous. He needed no other experience like he had had with Flora.

"Flora". He sighed. It was all very difficult for him, but he needed to be strong. The last test still had to be done. He rolled the ring in his hand, thinking about Snape. The scene was gruesome. To his surprise a faint image of his teacher appeared in front of him and then vanished. Perhaps the stone had weakened because of Bellatrix's Permanent Sticking Charm, or else it did not work well because it still was in contact with Flora's skin. So much the better, he thought.

His questions were interrupted by someone who had come in. He was an apprentice boy who got scared at seeing Harry with that dead finger in his hand. Without moving his wide open eyes from that, he said:

'Mr. Potter, excuse me. You got an external message from the computer centre.'

Harry reached out to pick up the message, the boy just let it drop on the table and left the office scared. Harry's gaze followed him. After making sure he was alone, Harry examined the envelope: "CONFIDENTIAL" - it should be some Muggle world news or a trash mail their co-workers had printed for him, since he was not waiting for anything. Recently the ministry inaugurated this new office - computer - which was at street level, near the visitors' entrance. It still did not work very well, since the interference of magic from the underground had not been successfully blocked. But at least the Ministry officials had access, even precarious, to this technology.

He was about to throw it in a drawer when he decided to open the envelope. It was from Flora. She asked him to meet her at her house urgently. Harry stood up and wrapped Flora's finger putting it in his pocket again. Certainly he would meet with her, but he needed to get rid of that damn object before.

He hurried out of the Ministry and apparated to Hogsmeade, near the post office. Many people greeted him on the street, but he did not stop to talk with them, he just nodded back and kept going towards Hogwarts. He knew what to do: he would leave the ring with another one of the Deathly Hallows: the Elder Wand, in a place that he was certain to be the one only he knew. He took his cloak of invisibility from within an inner pocket of his robes and covered up as soon as he entered the gates.

Being in front of Dumbledore's grave moved him deeply . He really missed his old friend. He cast some protective charms around himself so as to not be disturbed. This way, the strange movement that would follow would not be noticed either. After a brief and silent "conversation" with his teacher, Harry excused himself and opened the grave. He laid Flora's finger with the ring under Dumbledore's bones. He looked at the Elder Wand. It remained exactly where he had left it. At seeing that he felt sure that it was a safe place. Before closing the coffin, Harry said:

'Sorry my friend, but I'll continue with Ignoto's gift. Goodbye.'

Once everything was in its place, he erased the traces he had left. Then, he went back to Hogsmeade with quick steps, while his heart pounded with excitement and anguish at the same time before his second and more complicated task: to meet Flora.


	21. Mirrored Love

21. Mirrored love

Flora and Harry met in front of her house; Flora was in a moss green velvet dress which highlighted her eyes. He felt awfully guilty and couldn't forgive himself for not stopping to admire her. She asked him to take her to a faraway place, where they could talk alone. Without giving him time to reflect on the request, she grabbed his hand suggesting a Disapparition guided by him:

"Shall we?"

They apparated to the bank of a very large lake of clear waters, surrounded by an extensive plain. They walked slowly side by side, without looking at each other. The hazy horizon heralded the coming of a snow period. Flora broke the silence:

'After all, she bewitched even you ... There was something in that potion that made you vulnerable ... '

'Yeah. But what Bellatrix was unaware of is that she didn't need to do that. I always feel vulnerable by your side.' He swallowed and then continued. 'It was a very difficult time of my life. Helping you was the only way I could stop feeling a worm. Somehow, by wishing my ruin, she gave me the means to rebuild myself ...'

Harry took her hands in his own. Frowning and chewing his lips, he looked into her eyes. After all that happened, it was distressing to look at her. It seemed forbidden, indecent. Upset, he went on:

'Do you understand what I'm saying? I couldn't avoid any of that! I was worried that you wouldn't understand and end up hating me for the rest of our lives ... It was very confusing ... At the same time, as much as I wanted you as never before, I wanted to be able to avoid it because, in my heart, I knew it wasn't you who was surrendering to me – it was _she_ who was giving you to me, she was using you... I felt dirty for this, I was using you as well, but I couldn't get away …'

'Harry don't think about that anymore.'

Flora's sweet voice accompanied by the glare of her eyes seemed to penetrate his soul. She had no grudge against him, he could feel it. Their hearts pounded faster. Flora took a breath and said:

'It was also very confusing for me. I love Felipe but I also love you and I wanted you so much then! I wanted to feel your skin, your body, your desire ... Maybe it was the potion's effect. Maybe not. While I wished it hadn't been by her will, I couldn't fight against it either... I just couldn't!' She covered her face with her hands and breathed before continuing in a lower voice. 'I was weak and bewitched. I felt as if I was a puppet controlled by Bellatrix. We were both her puppets! We can't blame ourselves!'

Harry hugged her tenderly. Their bodies' heat was a torture for both of them, but they dared not move. They remained silent for a few minutes, then without moving so as to avoid facing her, Harry asked:

'I guess you're right. Did you tell Felipe the truth?'

Flora closed her eyes, sighed and said slowly:

'Yes. Partially. I omitted the mention of our feelings and desire for each other. He doesn't even need to know that... because without Bellatrix's potion, we can keep our impulses under control ...' she said, looking at him expectantly.

They backed away from each other. Her words were, somehow, imperative. Harry looked at her, sighed, and lamented:

'... It's a pity!'

Flora kept her thoughts to herself. She wanted to lament as well, but needed to be strong and not to give way. So that she could reveal something even more precious to him:

'Harry, the reason I asked to meet you wasn't only to talk about what happened when we were under my mother's dominion - You can't imagine how difficult it's to think of her as my mother, now after all we lived.' She swallowed hard. 'We need to talk about its consequences.'

'As for me, I'll be discreet. Just like you, I won't comment to anyone about the emotional conflicts that we went through on that day ... I'll not expose you in any way.'

'You're a gentleman, that isn't my concern. The question is different, much more delicate. The centaurs predicted that we would have a child ... Well, it seems, we could not get away from our destiny ...'

Harry was stunned. He could not even blink. A mixture of relief and satisfaction invaded him. Next to Flora, he had trouble being rational, he had his baby back and that alone mattered. He hugged her. She returned the hug, took a breath and then walked away.

'So, Harry. As I was saying, Felipe knows everything and also knows that the child is yours: he knows the circumstances in which the baby was generated - under the effect of Bellatrix's potion and under her control.' She let out a wistful sigh. 'Felipe is a very special man. His major concern was how I felt about all this. He was afraid I'd feel bad or suffer for that.'

She paused, walking toward the water, wetting her feet. She bent down to pick up a stone, while her tears mixed with the lake water. Then she threw the stone into the water and watched the fade out of the circular waves formed around the place where the stone fell. Finally, she could speak again:

'He understands that both of us suffered from violence, so he doesn't blame us for what happened. He said that if I wanted this child, he would want it too. Especially because it's a child born by me.'

Flora looked up to the sky and followed the flight of a white bird that was diving in the lake to fish. This whole conversation was very difficult for her. She did not want to hurt Harry and neither wanted to ever abandon Felipe. She would never abort the child – or repeat what her mother had tried to do with her - not even in those circumstances. Despite it being the result of the violence orchestrated by Bellatrix, the child was also a fruit of love, their forbidden love. She understood Harry's joy and shared it. She thought this baby was fate's gift for them, since they could make the right thing this time. She said that to Harry while he silently looked at her with tenderness and admiration:

'Felipe has promised me that he'd be the father of all my children. So, in his understanding, he'll be father again. But on one condition: you must know you'll be father too.'

Harry left the apparent trance.

'Isn't he angry with me?'

'Nope. As I said, he doesn't know of our feelings for each other ... Besides, I have reflected on this and come to some conclusions ...'

Her statement took Harry by surprise. He was still trying to assimilate the idea of having a baby. After all, he would be the father of Voldemort's and Bellatrix's grandchild - it really must be his fate.

'What conclusions?'

The cold water made her shiver, but she did not avoid it because she needed to feel every inch of her skin freezing. She needed to freeze each thought she desperately was trying to hide from herself, she could not go on loving Harry anymore. Without looking at him, she said with trembling voice:

'Our love is a mirrored and reflective one. We love what we identify of ourselves in each other, like an image on the mirror. It's like loving ourselves ... You even told me that I'm like a distorted echo of your own life and I reckon you're right, because we both have much in common: see, we lost our parents very early in life, we were raised by Muggles, we were sometimes misunderstood by our people ... I think these things made us compound or even intensify our feelings ... And on top of that there's the physical attraction I can't deny, so the result couldn't be different.'

'Yeah, maybe you're right ... You haven't abandoned the habit of analyzing everything, have you?'

Harry grinned trying to seem casual. He was angry, he wanted stop her from expressing her thoughts. Flora was embarrassed and admitted:

'I used to talk to my Brazilian friends that they could act normally in front of me or talk about whatever they wanted because I didn't work for free ...' She laughed at herself lost in her thoughts. 'But the question is that: I needed to understand our relationship - it's too intense, and at the same time we feel that it doesn't seem to make any sense - I think that for someone who had a start in life so hectic as you did working in the Ministry is a torture ... This way, it may not be I who seduced you, but the excitement that I unwittingly brought back to your life when I asked you to tell me about my parents, so you've freed all those exciting stories that were locked in your past ...'

Harry thought for a moment over what Flora said:

'I don't know, Flora, I don't know anymore ...' He said, shaking his head sideways. He felt upset and a little angry with her.

'I'm sorry, Harry. I know that what I'm doing is to destroy the magic that exists between us, so that we'll be able to live ... It's not really so bad. Trust me ...'

She lowered her head to hide the tears that had resumed to flow on her face. So her attempt to rationalize was not working. But she ought to go on trying that! She was confused with everything, and angry with herself; she had no right to do that with them. "But what then?! There was no other way", she thought. She ran her hands on her belly and blurted:

'Why should life be so complicated? All over again - how will it be?'

He firmly said:

'This time I will not leave you. I will look after you during your pregnancy. I'll tell Ginny. I think she'll understand ... But it won't be very easy for her to accept it.'

'I totally understand what you mean. It's a very confusing situation for all of us.'

He looked at the infinity of the sky, then he gently pulled her out of the lake and held her face with love; his intense gaze penetrated her and mingled with the words that were slowly building up in his mouth. When he finally could speak, his voice was calm and confident:

'I'll always love you, Flora, even if we have to turn away and ignore the feelings we have for each other.'

Flora smiled at Harry and threw herself on his neck in a very tight hug (she wanted it to be more than that, but loosened up). She apologized profusely and bursted into tears - the pregnancy made her very sensitive. He lightly touched her belly and also apologized. They embraced and gave what would be their last kiss as lovers. They would be next to each other from this moment on. Now Flora knew who she was again, what she wanted, and what she would not have.


	22. Torn Apart

23. Torn Apart

After leaving Flora, Harry went to his house carrying mixed-feelings of joy and sadness, anger and dismay. That woman really had the gift of taking him off the rails.

Nobody was home, Ginny was at work. "Better like that," he thought. He wandered through the house without opening the windows or turn on the lights. He needed to think. On the mantelpiece there was a photograph of his family, he took it: their children Lily, James and Albus - sometimes smiled, sometimes made funny faces; his wife and he - sometimes hold hands and interlaced their fingers. All of them smiled. None of the photos showed the background of the image clearly, but he recalled, they were at King's Cross station – which for Harry meant the place where everything had began or ended. He put in his breast pocket and hurried out of the house. _He needed to catch a train._

He got into his car and drove off to the station in a mechanical act without paying attention to what he was doing, so he nearly crashed once or twice. He apologized for his distraction and moved on. He parked on a side street and walked to the old station. In fact it had been rebuilt a short while ago, but he felt as if he was wearing magic glasses that only showed him what little had been kept from the original station ; just a detail here and there that referred him to smiles and laughter which were no longer heard there since long ago. Long lost remembrances of Ron, Hermione, Ginny and him wheeling trolleys with trunks guided him to the entrance to Platform 9 ¾. It was inevitable. He passed through the portal. The Express was not there, and there was nobody on the platform, but a few pigeons eating crumbs between the rails.

Harry sat down and leaned on a nearby wall. He spent some time looking at the pigeons. He envied them: the life of pigeons did not seem to be problematic. A man approached him:

'Have you got a problem, mate?'

Harry had not seen him coming and that sudden presence startled him. He raised his head, without raising his wand:

'No, no. I'm all right.'

'Oh, sorry, Mr. Potter. I didn't mean to bother you. Make yourself at easy please.'

Harry smiled and signalled with his head that there was nothing to be sorry about. The man scared off the pigeons and walked away. At least he had an advantage over the pigeons: for being Harry Potter and not any anonymous pigeon, he would not have to leave, he thought, grinning.

Harry thought of Ginny. He had known her for nearly thirty years, and had loved her for more than twenty. How could he have gotten involved with Flora? Should he tell the truth to his wife? He passed his hand over his face, rubbing his nose under his glasses. Then he looked at his hand. The old scar was imperative "I MUST NOT TELL LIES." He got up and started walking toward the exit. He was determined to tell her everything. Then he imagined the scene and he could feel Ginny's pain in himself. Sorrow took him over. He could not bear the idea of making her suffer. She did not deserve it. He then turned back and sat down at the same place as before, in front of the pigeons who had also returned. He snorted.

He owed to Ginny her right to choose whether to continue with him or not after everything that happened. She had always been an amazing woman, an exceptional witch, a wonderful mother; she was resolute and strong. He could not deny her the truth. "But why only now have I decided to tell her?" he asked himself. Because Flora mocked of his feelings and he knew their relationship had no return, he quickly answered to himself. He opened his mouth as if to scream, but he did not allow the sound to come out of his mouth. He felt ridiculous. No, it was not because Flora had decided to end their relationship that he would tell Ginny, but because he must talk to his wife about the child, his and Flora's. Flora. Again _the bad witch_. Again she had stabbed him with her words. How could she have suggested that their love was a mistake motivated by a boring routine? "Ridiculous!" he was angry, but deep down, he felt that somehow she was right: to relive the past had let him vulnerable.

He put his head between his bent knees. Squeezing his temples he snorted again. She was pregnant once more. He smiled. How wonderful to know that he would have another child. His family was everything to him. He grieved with this thought. How would it be with this child? Would they allow him to be his or her father? He recalled Flora's gentle voice telling that Felipe had insisted that he needed to know he was the child's father. Flora's voice, her perfume, the warmth of her body during their last and nightmarish hug. He sighed. What would he do to forget his love? Damn Slytherin girl determined and selfish! Harry shook his head, suppressing his childish thought. It was not by belittling her that he would get to a solution. He would not belittle her; she carried on being a fascinating woman, even if she did not want him anymore. And it was why he had had a relationship with her, belittle her would be like doing the same to himself, because he would had his reasons for having loved her; it had neither been for foolishness nor mistake. It had been for love. And out of that love they had produced a child. He would love her forever. How could he stay away from her and hide his feelings?

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!'

This time his voice came out with the cry that bursted out from him. The man who worked at the station was now with the wand in his hand like a conductor leading the orchestra while commanding in the other end of the platform the broom that kicked up dust. He looked at Harry that waved him, signalling that all was well.

Harry took his family's picture from his pocket. He looked at his children and wife. Flora was so sure that the feeling between them would change, and that they could leave everything in the past so as to continue with their families. Nonetheless, how could she be so certain of that? He said his children's names aloud: 'Lily, James, Albus ... Albus Severus.'

He remembered Dumbledore and Snape. Albus Dumbledore was able to keep secrets during a lifetime for the sake of a greater good. Surely his family was a greater good. And Severus Snape managed to omit his love for Lily Potter from everyone, and thus to sacrifice himself on behalf of this very love.

'_Expecto Patronum!'_

After casting his patronus, Harry kept on staring at the glow that faded away. It would be better this way: he would let love change into something else, or then he would keep it a secret until Death came to take him.

Still he had to tell his wife about his future baby. He would do as Flora did, would omit the details about their feelings and would emphasize that they had made love only because they were bewitched. He would apologize to her. Ginny would accept it, she was a great woman. Then he returned to the platform's exit. He would not take the train this time.


	23. The centaurs and the heir

The centaurs and the heir

A few days later, the calm had returned. The year-end holidays approached and Flora had resumed her classes, so she was just as busy as happy. She had decided to seal the entrance to the true Slytherin's secret chamber and asked Krum to help her, which he readily agreed to do.

Flora regained her wand, and although she no longer needed it to do spells, she never stopped using it. She did not want to be different - in fact she had to look as normal as possible so as to not draw attention to herself, thus she could go on with her life as if nothing had happened.

Thanks to Draco and Harry, Wizengamot acquitted her of the horrors she had promoted while dominated by Bellatrix. Flora had not met Ginny yet, who as expected, was not happy to know that her husband would be the father of another woman's child. But Hermione, Hannah and Katarina were on her side, supporting her. They would not leave her alone, not even for a few minutes. Besides, the three friends knew this was a very difficult time for Flora, and her excellent memory did not make it all the more easier: Bellatrix was part of her constant nightmares. In addition to her closest friends, nobody else knew that her child was Harry's. Nobody but the Centaurs, of course.

On the other hand, Flora was delighted with the computer classroom that finally got ready. As the electronic devices did not work at Hogwarts, due to the amount of magic in the atmosphere of the school, the ministry had summoned a team of 150 highly trained wizards who had spent months working to prepare a completely isolated room. To get in that chamber the students needed to leave in the anteroom closets all sorts of magical objects, including wands. At the door of the room there was a kind of magic detector (similar to metal detectors used in Muggles airports) which indicated if any student was trying to twist the rules or had forgotten something in their pockets. Many students had not liked the idea, but Flora thought it was perfect: so they could really understand life without magic - in addition to using computers with internet, which everyone enjoyed. At the end of another class, the headmistress came to meet her:

'Good afternoon, Professor Flora. I see that your return has gained acceptance among the students quite easily. In fact, many of them are asking me to increase the size of the Muggles Studies classes next term, I think we will have to open a new class ... Congratulations.' Said McGonagall, grinning.

'Thank you, Professor McGonagall. They are all very kind and dedicated. Classes have been truly amazing. I believe that many students who had never had any direct contact with Muggles now understand life without magic. A Slytherin student, Miss Althausen concluded in the middle of the lesson that 'life without magic is magic!' Everyone laughed at her spontaneity, but no one disagreed.'

'Certainly, they could not reach a different conclusion given the lovely way you minister your classes ...' Concluded the Headmistress, letting aside her usual stern.

Professor McGonagall waited a few minutes in silence, watching the number of cables carefully built by Felipe at the desks and windowless thick walls. The room was below the dungeons and beneath the Slytherin common room. The cables with electricity and internet were placed deeply in the bottom of the lake, which had generated a certain mistrust among the merpeople, who also needed to be convinced that this apparatus would not cause them any harm. The building of that room had demanded a great effort from everyone, especially from the headmistress, who had to convince the school board and the Ministry of Magic of its usefulness. McGonagall was proud of it, though she would not show it to anyone. She was lost in her thoughts; Flora watched her and asked smiling:

' Professor McGonagall, you really love this school, huh?'

'This school is my life, Flora. I tried a retirement four year ago. I enjoyed a tour of the world, I met foreign wizards and Muggles - very interesting people and places … But when I came back home or the place which was supposed to be my home, my family's house, here in Scotland, I couldn't … It was not my place. There was a big hole in my chest ... So I came back to my real home.' Said McGonagall almost smiling, closing her eyes as she breathed deeply.

'I see. Everybody here feels as part of your family. Even I ...'

'And you are, my dear. So as the Potters, Longbottons and so many others whose families I've teaching generations after generation ... I often think, before sleep, I have no students in here, but grandchildren and great-grandchildren ... I'll stand here forever. When I can't breathe anymore, I want to rest by my old friend's side, Albus Dumbledore …' she replied, her voice trembling. Flora embraced her tenderly.

They were almost out of the room when McGonagall remembered something important:'Flora, your magic works in this room, right?'

Flora knew what she meant. The Headmistress knew of Flora's discoveries and her ability to do magic without the use of a wand. Flora had made a point of telling it because she did not want to keep things that could be misinterpreted as a secret.

'Yes, Professor. It works here too, but nobody knows it. I've never used magic here - I don't want to scare the students. Moreover, I can't use it here unless I want to cause interference ... After all the work that we had to get this room done, this would be very incoherent.' She said with a smile.

'Um, well. Oh, I almost forgot: Firenze asked me to forward you a message. He is waiting for you and Mr Potter tonight, in the forest, close to Hagrid's hut. It seemed important, so I felt free to tell Mr Potter.'

'Thank you.'

McGonagall looked at her sweetly and said goodbye.

Flora followed McGonagall with her eyes until she left the room. She felt a very special affection for the Headmistress. She admired her attitude, disposition, intelligence and clarity: managing the school seemed an easy task in her hands. Despite her advanced age, she was still able to do that – or, perhaps, she could do it so well exactly because of her advanced age. Flora sighed hopefully: maybe she would be like McGonagall in the future. Then she came back to reality and to the computer room to send a message to Felipe:

_My love, I've received a message from the centaurs: I need to go to the Forbidden Forest with Harry tonight. Don't worry, I'll tell you later what happened. I won't be home for dinner. Kisses. Always yours, Flora_

Harry arrived at dusk. He was exhausted, but very curious. "What do the centaurs want to share this time?" He thought. To warn humans was an unusual concern to them, even after the Voldemort's fall, when they became a little less oblivious of the wizarding world. He met Flora and Krum in front of the ladies room guarding the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. A slight breeze came in through a window carrying Flora's perfume in his direction. This made him somewhat uncomfortable, it would be more difficult to maintain emotional distance which they had forced between themselves and which they had agreed to keep.

Harry followed Flora and Krum to the Chamber of Secrets, and after examining Slytherin's inscriptions, he agreed with Flora that it would be wise to seal the secret passage.

'Before that', Flora said, 'it would be interesting to delete some items, for safety, preventing future visitors to uncover those secrets.'

Everyone tried in vain to delete the entries. It just seemed impossible to do. Harry was already defeated and ready to seal it when Flora asked to do one last test. She then laid aside her wand and cast a spell over the high wall, just wiggling her fingers. With that she managed to erase and change the order of a few points she considered most dangerous. The two men were very impressed with her ability. This, however, weakened her and she felt a little dizzy as well as an intense heat in her right hand. She said, trying to disguise her voice so they would not notice her weakness:

'Sorry if I scared you by leaving aside my wand, but you saw that I tried the same spell with the wand and it didn't work. Then I remembered I could try something different ... Apparently the wand slightly reduces my power. So I think it's better to use it forever, aye?!'

Flora winked at them and laughed at herself. They both agreed it would be safer if she did use the wand, because they recognized the fact that she was a very powerful witch and they were relieved that she did not feel the need to use all her power. However, they didn't comment anything about it. It was not necessary.

Flora looked at the palm of her hand; it was darkened as though burned. She remembered: the_ little shadow_ - the advice which she didn't understand in the inscriptions - and tried to hide it quickly, but Harry and Krum noticed her gesture and asked her to show whatever she tried to hide:

'Does it hurt, Flora?' Asked Harry, worried.

'Just a little.' Flora lied. 'It could be worse.'

'Has it happened before?'Harry asked, worried.

'No ...' Flora swayed and the two men helped her.

'I can't understand ... What happened?' She said, embarrassed.

'Flora, ancient and very powerful spells leave traces.' Krum said apprehensively. 'I think it's really important that you do not try to do it anymore, you should always use your wand. Anyway, you're already very powerful when you use it; you don't need to increase it.'

Krum examined the wound and concluded:

'Flora, we better take you to hospital wing.'

'But what about the Centaurs?' Flora asked, worried.

'We'll go there soon. Don't worry.' Harry calmed her down and led her quickly to see the nurse.

Madame Pomfrey looked after Flora's injury and examined her carefully. She recommended that Flora rested, but on seeing her objection to this suggestion, the nurse released her to go with Harry to see the centaurs, making a thousand recommendations to them both and making sure that he would take care of Professor Flora.

After saying goodbye to Krum, Harry and Flora went into the forest. It was dark. Hagrid was talking to Firenze and Bane in front of the house. Their friend showed great joy in meeting them, but quickly said goodbye, as he knew that the Centaurs would not wait:

'After your walk in the woods if you could have dinner with an old friend, Harry ...'

'Surely, Hagrid. Ya.'

They followed the centaurs to the clearing that had once been inhabited by Acromantulas. Harry recognized the place, but said nothing. He was anxious to know what the centaurs wanted to tell them. The herd made a circle around the newcomers.

'Mr Potter and Mrs Riddle.'

'Ferreira, please.' Halts Flora.

Bane gave no importance to her comment, ignored it, actually. He continued:

'We called you here to show you that the sky brings no more difficult times. Now peace returns, with the child you have generated. Flora Riddle's fate is no longer a puzzle or something that might bother humans. How you can see in the constellation of Orion, Bellatrix has regained its usual brightness. The only thing that calls attention is Virgo's new brightness ...'

Flora looked to where Bane had pointed in the sky. Right at that moment the words Astrea-Star, Spica, and Vega came to her mind ... Astrea Spiv. Surely, she was generating a daughter. Spi Ve: the spiritual truth of the star. A thinker. Grandchild of the warrior. She looked at Firenze and said:

'My daughter will be called Astrea Spiv. How it's written in the stars. She will be intelligent, sensitive, accurate, fair and kind. However, as the granddaughter of a warrior, she won't be a stupid girl or someone easily manipulated. She'll have the acumen of the Canis Major and the courage of the Lion. She'll be a Black. Thanks for the revelation.'

'Well you have understood. You are an amazing human Flora Riddle. You were the only student to achieve this understanding.'

'Will my little daughter have the same fate as her unborn brother?' Flora remembered to have said something like "Lord of Death and Time" as forecast for the kid she had lost. At the occasion, that worried her as it was too heavy a burden for a child. Firenze reassured her:

'No. The brightness of Arcturus shows a greater balance in the management of time, rather than dominion over it. She will know how to plant and wait for the harvest. She will be a thoughtful person. As for death, her father has already taken her away from the power that was reserved to her. Be calm.'

Harry gulped, but to his relief, Flora seemed not to worry about what might mean "her father has already taken her away from the Power of Death ". In fact, the only thing that mattered for Flora now was that, according to the forecasts, her daughter would be a normal person, without carrying any extra burden she had inadvertently generated during Bellatrix's ritual, therefore it had not affected the baby in anything. She commented as follows:

'Oh, good, I'm relieved. I hadn't seen anything like that in the sky yet, but I needed a confirmation, since I'm still an apprentice ...'

Harry looked at them astonished. Study of the stars and Divination had never been his specialty.

The centaurs said goodbye and walked away. In the way back from the forest, Harry was finally able to speak:

'Is the baby a girl?'

'Yes.' Flora smiled. 'You didn't understand anything, did you?'

'"To tell the truth, no. What was that story of Leo and Canis Major about?'

'Didn't you notice the special glow in Regulus and Sirius? And saw the constellation of Virgo to the East of the constellation of Leo? Virgo shows the baby is a woman. Well, her name came to my mind as soon as I noticed it. Then, I remembered the Black family tree, a starry sky ...' Flora laughed. 'With that, it became clear to me that our daughter is bringing with her something of your godfather Sirius and his brother Regulus Arcturus. Arcturus was also strange because it should not be so bright at this time of year, so there was something connecting these several brightness. The image formed in my mind was a forest and forests always give me peace. Then I realized that she will be a Black, but peaceful. As simple as that. She is not Voldemort's granddaughter, she's Bellatrix's - like my aunt Andromeda has always been, and aunt Narcissa is nowadays, our daughter will be a Black, not a Riddle – I can feel that, I can't explain why. I think it's a way to rewrite Bellatrix's history on the astral plane, of giving her a second chance …'

'Flora, _'you are an amazing human'_... I think I'll just stay with the information that she's a person of great qualities. To me that's enough.'

Harry smiled. Flora smiled back. After wards, she quickened her pace, because she needed to get away from the temptation she had for walking next to Harry in a deserted forest... Harry pulled her nearby her hand.

'Wait. I want to say goodbye to my daughter.'

She did not know what to do. She remained motionless as he knelt down, lifted her shirt and tenderly kissed her belly. Flora sighed, bit her lips and closed her eyes. Then she smiled, stroked Harry's hair, gently pushed him away from her body and urged him:

'Come on. It's late.'


	24. Magical Tendrils

Magical tendrils

Katarina was relieved for Flora having resumed the Muggles Studies classes, as it was very difficult for her to cover for her friend at Hogwarts and take care of the wedding preparations at the same time. The wedding party would be in the house that Krum had bought for them, a small farm near Hogsmeade. In that new house, they could receive their Muggle relatives from Brazil, friends, and Viktor's relatives from Bulgaria. Flora and Katarina were anxious about the coming of Nadine and her family, who were going to arrive in a few days in advance to assist them in the wedding party preparation.

Katarina had decided to make the wedding dress by hand, and she had help from Flora and Hannah. Flora had bought the white fabric with a slight lilac sheen in a shop in London and had already cut and sewn the dress. Every day the three friends met at Hannah's, and each was responsible for embroidering a small piece of the dress as they liked, while cheerfully talking. From the hem of her dress small bouquets of flowers, tendrils, delicate and multicoloured butterflies came up, all that interspersed with bright spots. Despite not following any fixed pattern, the design grew as if it had life. Hannah was amused to see something done totally without magic, but with a magical appearance:

'Wow! It's so beautiful and delicate! And made totally without magic!'

'Without magic, Hannah? Aren't we embroidering with love? I s'ppose there's nothing more magical than love!'

Hannah thought of Neville, and looking at Joanne agreed:

'Yeah, Flora.' She smiled. 'When your friends come from Brazil?'

'Within eight days. We'll meet them in London. I'll just visit Aunt Narcissa then. Ricardo and Scorpius are going straight there on Friday, with the Hogwarts Express, after the end of term.'

'Ah, what a pity... So he isn't coming to Jo's first birthday party?'

'Oh, no. But Ricardo has no more patience for children's parties. Even the sweets don't lure him anymore.' Flora shook her head sideways. 'Anyway, we're going to London the day after the party. You come with us?'

'For sure! I've to meet my father ...'

The afternoon went on delightfully and nicely, with discussions about their plans to travel and how to spend the holidays.

The eight days passed pleasantly, only the clock seemed to be in a hurry. Joanne birthday was celebrated in a small party with friends in the backyard of Longbottom's home, where they could play and gave her some gifts as delicate as the baby, who was very happy.

At the day after, the three women, Neville, Felipe, Lia, Joanne and Yan travelled to London by the Floo network, directly to the Leaky Cauldron. The flight of Nadine and her family would be arriving in two hours, enough time for the men to browse through the shops to buy computer components and accessories to Felipe's store, while the women and children followed in an ordinary taxi to the airport. Only Hannah chose staying to help her father with the business of the Leaky Cauldron.

Nadine, Katarina and Flora's meeting was quite warm. The children also were very happy to see their friend, Nadine's daughter, who was full of news from Brazil. They returned immediately to the Leaky Cauldron, because Nadine was eager to know more about the so-called Diagon Alley. None of the beauties of London had impressed her:

'Bah, that I can see through the internet or postcards!' Said Nadine ignoring the Big Ben. Flora and Katarina exchanged glances and began to laugh. But deep inside, Flora felt a little guilty for all the advertisement for wizard world she had made, as nothing could take away London' beauties.

When they arrived at Diagon Alley, the mood of the three witches had risen as if it could be possible and everything seemed to cheer them up even more. They spoke at the same time, so fast that none could understand a single word in their talk. Davi felt a bit out of place, but he did not lose his good mood, not even when an owl pecked his finger in the Eeylops Owl Emporium and Menagerie.

The Diagon Alley Christmas' decoration impressed Nadine's family a lot, especially the fairies that gave brightness and life to the Christmas trees. The children popped from shop to shop making a huge wish list with all sorts of strange things they found: from owls, toads and brooms to objects that Flora was sure they could not even guess what they were for. They spent some nice fun hours there. After shopping, they met Felipe and Neville at the Leaky Cauldron and after a cup of tea, the Brazilians went to Hogsmeade through the Floo Network, except for Flora, Lia and Yan, who were left with the difficult task of taking Ricardo away from Scorpius.


	25. Narcissa's Lightness

Narcissa's lightness

The Malfoy Manor was now almost unrecognizable. Without Lucius, Narcissa had the freedom to bring light to the house. She had not changed many things, only the colour of some pieces of furniture, which became unrecognizable in pastel colours. Baroque music was echoing through all the rooms. Narcissa's expression had also changed: there was lightness and joy in it; she seemed even more so with her sister Andromeda:

'Flora, what a joy! Lia and Yan, come and give me a big hug! How you're grown up and beautiful! Ricardo and Scorpius are in the backyard, practicing Quidditch.'

After greeting their grand-aunt, the children ran to the backyard. The two women followed them with a slower pace, suitable for intimate conversations.

'I hear that I will have a new 'grand-nephew', Flora?'

'Grandniece. I was talking with the centaurs; she seems to carry with her all the more remarkable features of the Black family. I chose the name Astrea Spiv - bright and true, balanced, kind, strong. I found it very interesting when they revealed me that she would be a woman and I saw in the sky the starlight which remitted me to your cousins Sirius and Regulus Arcturus which were offsetting Bellatrix's brightness. It assured me that she won't inherit from her grandmother more than her determination ... But above all she will be loved. The kids loved the idea of a new sister, especially Yan, who feels wronged by having to wait until September to start his studies in magic. He says that to take care of his little sister will leave him less time to whine for not going to Hogwarts soon. But she's going to be born in July, so he won't have much time to care for her.'

'How about Felipe?'

'Ah, Felipe is too much in love with her.' Flora smiled. 'He's already making up the cradle for the baby. He did something special with his own hands for all our children ...'

'I heard that Harry Potter has helped him ...'

'I know where you want to get at, aunt.' Flora said, a little nervous. 'If you could keep a secret and really want to know about what your sister was able to do with me, I have no problem in telling you that. But I can shorten the conversation by saying, yes, this girl that I'm generating is biologically Harry Potter's daughter. I guess Draco may have already talked to you about it. I haven't betrayed my husband; all of it was planned and executed by Bellatrix. Mr. Potter was under the influence of a love potion, while I was dominated by her, in addition to the potion, of course.'

'No need to explain anything, dear. Draco didn't want to cause any discomfort, he just did a rant about how difficult it's to live with our family history. From time to time it insists on coming to the fore. I'm so sorry about that.'

'Oh, forgive me if I was rude… Um, well. Talking about family how is my uncle Lucius?'

Narcissa sighed deeply and said in a lament:

'Your uncle is right. Unfortunately, he recovered his wits and was transferred last week to Azkaban. Draco went along with him there.'

'Unfortunately?'

Narcissa replied firmly:

'Well, yes. Unfortunately, because the only thing he regrets is that he believed that you could be like your father.'

Flora's eyes widened in amazement. Her aunt continued opening her heart:

'I miss him; I'm still in love with Lucius. Too bad I discovered that I can't expect anything good from him. Draco went to St. Mungo's when Lucius was being transferred to prison. It was actually the first time they saw each other since his father had been hospitalized. Draco told me that his father barely glanced at him, after all that he'd done to our son ... I wish he apologized to Draco, but instead Lucius said that his son had died when he had accepted a despicable job at the Ministry and spat at Draco's feet. I feared that something would happen, because every time I visited my husband, he never mentioned his son's name and whenever I spoke about Draco he'd change the subject. It's very sad to see my family destroyed like that, but it'd have been worse if Lucius had managed to regain the power for the Darkness.'

Narcissa was teary-eyed. Flora took Narcissa's hands and asked, concerned:

'How are you feeling, aunt?'

'I'm fine. I'm very proud of Draco. He is stronger than his father. I'm sure he's never hurt anyone in favour of greed and power.'

Narcissa smiled, wiped her tears, while Flora looked at her tenderly. Mrs Malfoy hugged her niece, and then looked at the sky where the kids were flying on brooms and said:

'I I had never thought that one day, I would have a family so numerous and cheerful ... Nor could I have imagined seeing Scorpius acting so spontaneously. He's the opposite of Draco at this age ... It's astonishing how he and Ricardo get along so well ...'

'Well, far _too_ much I'm afraid... If they weren't so good students in terms of notes, I would support anyone who suggested that they should be expelled from school. The two are more than terrible in their play. They say that old Filch office is like a second home ...'

'Yeah, I know. Draco and Astoria have sent Howlers with amazing frequency to Hogwarts. What exactly have they done wrong?'

'Confusion... they mix Muggles Illusionism practices to the real magic to divert everyone's attention from something important. The only problem is they usually do this during classes... On the other hand, Neville told me Lia is his more dedicated student and usually helps him in all the greenhouses – he told me that she has more knowledge than the last year students! And she's always with Potter's daughter as hand in glove.'

Narcissa smiled and changed the subject:

'And Yan will be a great Seeker - have you seen how he dominates the broom? And what about that looping dip?'

'Of course I have; I'm still nervous ... Yan scares me. He doesn't seem to be afraid of anything and risks so much; like he's always testing his limits ...'

'He reminds me of my cousin, Sirius ... not because of his skill with the broom, but because of his confidence and challenging look... ... Sirius was sweet and also very beautiful at the same time, but unfortunately hadn't had much aesthetics , just as Yan ...'

'Oh, you mean his ear enlargers, right? I didn't like it much at first, but he feels handsome with it so ... And, anyway, when he wants to, we can fix it with one wand touch ...'

Flora smiled and her aunt replied by inviting Flora to see her "treasure". Flora was very impressed because the "treasure" was nothing more than a nice garden that her aunt had been cultivating with her own hands. Not even by a long shot, did Narcissa look like the woman who had once referred to Dobby - the elf who had served her in the past - as a despicable being. She was happier, had sparkle in her eyes where before Flora could only see fear. "A blessing in disguise" thought Flora, sighing: for her uncle's hospitalization had freed Narcissa. It was comforting to think that she had contributed to this change.

Without haste, the chat flowed freely between the two women. In the evening, Draco and his wife arrived at his mother's house for dinner. Later on, Flora and the children returned home using a portkey provided by Draco, as they didn't have a fire place, since Ricardo was allergic to Floo powder. They didn't linger saying goodbye, as they would meet soon at Katarina and Krum's wedding.


	26. Katarina and Krum

Katarina and Krum

Finally, _The Day_. Katarina was radiant as the sun had decided to appear between the clouds. Still, the cold had not given a break and there was a wide layer of snow covering everything around. When they reached the future home of bride and groom, Lia said to her mother, with her eyes shining in admiration:

'Mom, look how beautiful! The sun is making the snow shine, it'll match Katarina's dress ... it's as if the entire nature has dressed up for the party!'

Flora smiled and hugged her daughter gently, and thought how lucky she was to have a daughter who saw the world through a poet's lens. The snow was really beautiful, but suddenly she felt nostalgic for the sweet scented air of the tropics, her mother complaining about the red earth soiled clothes, the many colours and aromas that seemed to be part of someone else's story. All, long lost things for Flora. Was she doing the right thing by bringing her children so far from Brazil? Katarina's marriage had left her melancholic. She sighed and returned to reality. She told her kids to play around a bit - taking care not to get dirty or wet - while she helped with the final preparations for the party. Soon the guests would begin to arrive.

The bridal couple had had the help of their friends in the party preparations, they did everything needed to be done with magic before the arrival of Muggle relatives from Brazil to avoid a breach of confidentiality on the magic (once it remained in force despite massive campaigns of wizards from multiple locations). In the wedding invitation itself was the recommendation (protected by anti-invisibility spell for Muggle) to avoid the use of wands, because it was a mixed event.

The decor was a gift from Hannah and Flora to Katarina. They pitched a large tent in the yard near the house, where covered white taffeta chairs were arranged around heptagonal tables covered with towels in blue voile topped with white handmade laces, all brought from the Brazilian Northeast. The special touch was given by vases of very delicate flowers that stood on each table, giving the impression that they were in a garden on the clouds.

Time passed quickly. Flora was almost as tired as excited. After checking that everything was in place and leaving Nadine showing the guests to their seats, she went to get ready. If it was not for a little delay of Katarina, Flora would not have had time to be on the altar. But there she was, standing close to Felipe, near the justice of peace, at the place set for the bride's godparents. Across them there were Harry and Ginny, as godparents of the groom. Harry and Felipe greeted each other with a friendly nod, and then Harry looked at Flora and smiled as she nodded too. Ginny was visibly irritated with which could be interpreted as an explicit demonstration of affection to Flora, whom she still could not qualify as a friend or foe, by her husband. Despite of that and as to not cause discomfort, she imitated her husband's gesture, which was reciprocated by Flora.

From the altar, Flora watched the multitude of faces of different nations. Wizards and Muggles were socializing and waiting for the bride and groom and it made her happy. To think about her parents was inevitable for her, because if it were for them, none of it would be possible. She felt relieved and thankful to Harry for all he had done for the Wizarding World.

Krum came and stood beside Harry. He was as handsome as any groom and gave Flora the impression that he was clothed in joy, for his wide smile and bright eyes outshone anyone who tried to look only at his clothing."He is perfect", thought Flora. Katarina came to the altar as if floating and she would not divert her gaze from Krum. She looked beautiful and happy. While Flora admired her friend, the justice of the peace of the Ministry of Magic began a speech about love and union of people, and Flora daydreamed.

After a beautiful ceremony, while serving up the cranberry juice (that Katarina had made a point of serving at the party because of its pink colour), Nadine and Flora chatted animatedly when Flora's eye crossed with Harry's and she turned politely as to not draw attention. However, her friend noticed it and commented in a low voice - but in English, as they had agreed that they would not be rude and talk in Portuguese whilst being surrounded by foreigners:

'I found it rude of Katarina to invite Harry Potter to be best man and be at the altar with you and Felipe after everything that happened ... I don't know how you can look at him.'

'Nadine, Mr. Potter and Viktor Krum are long-time friends, it'd be rude not to invite him. He thought of calling Ron and Hermione, but he prefers them to be the godparents of his first child ... Anyway, I don't know how much Katarina told you about what happened between me and Mr. Potter, but I understood that he was as much a victim as me. We were both bewitched and acted under the a third person's command, or rather under the command of a third person's spirit. We even hadn't the chance to defend ourselves… He's _not_ an aggressor. Actually, he's a gentleman. '

Nadine, still perplexed, lowered her voice even more and said:

'But he saw you naked - did things with you. He must remember this ...'

Embarrassed, Flora smiled and said firmly:

'I try not to think about it ... I think he's doing the same.'

Ginny approached them. She stared at Flora, then gazed at her belly. Hermione saw the scene and fearfully approached them too. Ginny finally spoke:

'Flora, I couldn't avoid listening to what you said. I'm sorry for judging you badly. I hadn't thought about the situation from your point of view. I was unable to see you as a victim. I'm so sorry!' She hugged Flora. 'I'm glad you don't hold any grudge for Harry. My husband is very concerned about your well-being. Just as you, he doesn't feel comfortable about this situation…'

'Thank you, Mrs. Potter. I'm relieved to know you understand me.'

Flora smiled; she had insisted on calling Ginny by her surname, as a way of showing that she respected her as Harry's wife. Hermione came up and deftly changed the subject relieving the tension.

'Have you seen how graceful Jo is? She's barely completed one year of age and she's already talking, and in her way, she asks intelligent questions ... You see, while she was playing of mixing sweets of all colours in a plate, she just asked me why when doing this, one gets a brown colour if the mixed colours of the rainbow are white?! I was amazed! I don't know how she gets so much information ...'

'Well, I think this time I do ... This once.' Said Flora smiling. 'I noticed that she was paying great attention while Hannah and I casted spells on the chairs experimenting different colours to see which one would be more beautiful ... At the end, we had kind of a colour-duel and all colours were changed so quickly that there seemed to be a rainbow between us ... And the result was this perfect white ... She's indeed clever and observant,... '

And the four women rested in silence for some moments watching Joanne lovingly playing with food and making drawings with her little fingers on the chair.

Across from where they were, Harry approached Felipe. The two men watched their wives chatting happily. Harry was relieved. Felipe guessed:

'We are two lucky men. Beautiful, aye?'

'Yeah, more and more every day ...'

Harry sighed... It was inevitable, he loved them both. Two clever, graceful, and strong women. In his thoughts, he apologized to Felipe for his inevitable betrayal. After he made sure that nobody else was listening, he asked Felipe:

'How is Flora doing?'

'Flora is very well. She often talks gently to the baby and has begun to make the little girl an outfit. Moreover, she continues to take care of her health. My children are also enjoying the idea of a new baby.'

Harry was relieved. He had not spoken directly with Felipe about Flora yet, although they were working together for the cradle, but he realized by Felipe's cordial way that there was no reason for concern. Felipe continued talking:

'I was thinking and I suggested to Flora that we invite you and Ginny to be Astrea's godparents. So you could follow closely her growing up... I'll be the official dad, of course. And when she's old enough to know under what circumstances she was conceived, she might accept you as her dad too. What do you think of that?'

Harry smiled. It was not the kind of conversation that he had hoped to have in a wedding party, but he was relieved that Felipe had given him this opportunity. Flora was right: Felipe was a very special man. This was exactly the result that he had wished when he learned about his previous baby.

'It'll be a pleasure. Thank you.'

Harry smiled, now he could understand why Flora had never even considered splitting up from Felipe, in spite of what they felt for each other. In fact, that made Harry's life easier, since he could not leave Ginny either, since she was the woman of his life. Harry hugged Felipe, happily.

Ron came up with Viktor and the four men went along cheerfully together, following the Brazilian tradition of selling small pieces of the groom's tie throughout the party.


	27. The return of the Phoenix

The return of the Phoenix

The months passed and Flora felt very well among her family and friends. She was also well for being teaching almost all Hogwarts students - suddenly, everybody seemed eager to know about the Muggles' world, although she suspected that the computers rather than the Muggles were the attractive element there. Anyway, she thought, the reason didn't matter as long as she could decrease the prejudice against Muggles.

Flora was in good health, without the nausea of early pregnancy. She felt a little heavy and less agile, but she knew it was temporary, so it didn't bother her. Her little daughter was developing well and stirring up a lot. Often the students would excitedly squeal _"moved!"_ during classes whenever her belly would deform under the already strained witch dress. Then, she would smile and confirm it.

After giving her last lesson that morning, which was also the last ones before the summer holidays, Flora walked up the dungeons stairs when she saw a golden-red glow in the woods which seemed to have come from a big bird. Her curiosity, as always, outweighed her good sense. She forgot the thousands of recommendations from Felipe, her friends and the old school nurse Madame Pomfrey, and followed behind that golden glow, taking care to go along invisible, as she did not want anyone behind her telling her "you can't go". Her body was asking for that contact with nature. After all, _being_ _Flora_, she _belonged_ to the Nature ... she laughed at herself. However, when she reached the forest edge she was weak and she could feel a heat rising from her feet. Scared, Flora looked down and noted that the little shadow - which usually appeared when she was invisible - had increased. Quickly she turned visible again and took off her shoes. The coolness of the ground relieved the heat and gave her a sense of well-being.

The day was beautiful with a clear-cloudless sky. Flora gave one last look at the sky before entering the forest. She left her shoes at the foot of a pine tree, and then abandoned her purse a little ahead and as well as her witch hat. The contact with the forest, the smell of the woods, the light breeze stroking her long hair (which was kept red, resembling the lava from a volcano), brought her serenity and euphoria at the same time, as if it was possible to feel like that, thought Flora.

As she walked, the hem of her dress and her inseparable green cloak got gently snagged on the twigs and thorns. Flora smiled at it. It was as if nature was stroking her. She looked at the tops of the trees and listened to a nice melody, like the sound of a baroque flute being played by a flutist who had an endless breath. She followed the flute sound. Suddenly, she saw in a treetop the most beautiful bird of all the ones she had ever seen. As if it was a charming dream, her childish dream, the big bird was there: red feathered, had a golden beak as well as claws and tail feathers. Flora came closer to better listen to its song. She nestled at the foot of a leafy oak and fell asleep.

Flora had a strange dream: _the bird she was watching went into spontaneous combustion. Coloured flames burned it quickly, and moments later all she could see was ash dust. A little later, a baby's hand emerged from the bird ashes. Flora pulled it from the ashes. She could feel the baby was her daughter. Flora snuggled the baby in her own lap and called her Bellatrix._

Flora woke up scared, she was feeling the contractions. Her water broke ahead of time. She tried to get up but could not due immense pain. She tried to conjure a Patronus and ask for help but gave it up as soon as the bright light began to leave the wand. She knew what to do; she knew her body and knew what she was capable of. Flora calmed down. She was in the forest and there she felt at peace with nature, so nothing could go wrong. Then the bird came down from the top of the tree and approached Flora looking tenderly at her. Flora felt comforted in its presence.

They were alone in the woods and Flora was peaceful. The pain on her back got stronger, then Flora stopped leaning against the tree and squatted down. The bird began to sing, Flora sang along with it, her body was pending and she felt like she was being sustained by that singing. She no longer felt the pain of the contractions, just noticed them happening. Flora felt Astrea being born and held the baby with her hands. The bird approached its head gently and dropped some tears on Flora's belly and the umbilical cord of Astrea, healing them. The baby filled her lungs with air for the first time and Flora snuggled her child directly on her bare chest, feeling the baby soft skin against her own. The baby looked at her mother with her little curious eyes, snuggled up to her, and fell asleep. Flora improvised a blanket with her own cloak. Still panting, she turned to the bird and said:

'Thank you. You were great.' And the bird flew away to the top of a tree.

At this moment she saw some people approaching her.

Felipe ran to meet her, followed closely by Hagrid and Madame Pomfrey. He crouched down and hugged the woman.

'Our little girl?'

'Here, my love ...'

Flora unwrapped the child's face so he could see her. She woke up and looked at his father, he sighed and smiled: she was a beautiful girl with dark green eyes and black hair. She had delicate features such as her mother. Flora returned to wrap her so the baby would not feel cold. Felipe said, stroking his wife's hair and looking deep in her eye with his teary eyes:

'You didn't come to lunch, so I was worried. I looked for you everywhere. Firenze said to Hagrid that you were here ... The centaurs decided to stay away to not disturb you.'

Flora smiled and said:

'I'm glad they have understood and respected me. Anyway I wasn't alone.'

'Sorry dear, but who was with you?' Asked Felipe, afraid of her answer. He looked for his wand instinctively inside his coat pocket. Had Bellatrix come back?

Flora did not answer immediately, before that she looked for the bird in the treetops, which was watching them from the top of a nearby tree.

'There, my special doula.'

'A phoenix!'

Felipe and Madam Pomfrey yelled together. Hagrid was admiring the phoenix and lifted his right elbow, offering his arm for the bird to land ... The bird accepted his kindness and came down the tree landing softly on it:

'You're not an ordinary phoenix ... I didn't think I would ever see you again, Fawkes.'

Hagrid was puzzled. He looked at Flora and then at Fawkes, raising his eyebrows. He sighed deeply. What would have brought the bird back after so many years?

Fawkes lowered its head letting Hagrid stroke it then returned to its post at the top of the tree.

Madam Pomfrey examined through the mother and the newborn daughter and she found nothing wrong with either of them:

'Mother and daughter are doing well. Let's get out of this forest and go to a warmer place.'

Flora judged the nurse's comment meaningless because she had never felt so hot in her whole life. Then, she reached for Felipe, who was stunned since he had seen the phoenix, and said:

'Felipe, I need your help to get back home. I haven't had lunch, so I'm as hungry as a hungry lion, and I'm a little tired too...'

Flora knew that her husband would take her home, but she emphasized the words "I need your help" for him to feel useful and to show his place within the whole scene. He said shaking his head:

'You're a little crazy, you know?'

Felipe took her in his arms, but staggered, most likely from emotion, inexplicably he felt as if his wife became bigger. Hagrid was quick to help him and carried her in his arms - the old half-giant was stronger than an ordinary man. And so they left the forest, followed by Fawkes. Flora knew the bird would not leave her anymore, and this was undoubtedly a beautiful gift from nature (or an anticipated Christmas' gift).


	28. The Baptism

The Baptism

In the day that followed Astrea's birth, Felipe invited Harry and Ginny to meet the baby. They arrived in the late afternoon. Flora was dozing on her rocking chair on the back porch of the house, putting her hand gently on Astrea little body who was sleeping in her pram, when almost whispering Felipe called her:

'Honey, the Potters arrived.'

Flora woke up and the light hurt her eyes. She smiled and she started to rise, but Ginny stepped forth and asked her not to stand up as they would go to her instead.

Ginny handed her a gift, a light blue, handmade-knit blanket with tiny golden stars that seemed to pulsate. She commented whispering:

'I learned to make it with my mother, I'm sorry but I'm not as good as her ...'

'Don't say that! It's so beautiful and I can feel that has much love put into each stitch. She'll be very warm.'Flora said, smiling. Ginny smiled back:'A godmother's care ... May I hold her?'

Flora took Astrea to Ginny's lap. At the moment she saw that close to Felipe, Harry was looking at the three women very touched. He also carried a small gift in his hands. Through tears, Harry gave them all a warm smile:

'I also brought something for her. It's incomplete. I need your all to finish it.'

Ginny, who already knew what her husband had brought, put the baby back in the pram. Then, she took three chairs and put them around the pram, where Felipe, Harry and she sat down. Ginny took her wand, Felipe and Harry echoed her gesture. Flora was just watching them. Harry opened the packet and there was a small, silver charm bracelet with four tiny balls that hanged from it. Beside the pram, he conjured a small, round wooden-table where he laid the bracelet. Then he asked:

'Felipe, please conjure your patronus, woud you?'

'_Expectro Patronun!'_

The condor had barely left the wand when Harry waved his own wand, captured Felipe's Patronus, and directed it to the first ball. The image of the condor shrank to the size of the small ball and merged with it, giving it the shape of a condor. The patronus-pendant glowed almost exactly like the real one. Pleased, Harry looked at his wife.

'_Expectro Patronun!'_

The spectral horse had only just broken from Ginny's wand when Harry repeated the process. He looked at Flora and asked:

'Could you, Flora?'

It was Flora's turn. Then, Felipe made a move to fetch her wand that was inside the house. He, just as the others, believed she was very weak because she had just given birth. However, as she knew she was as strong as ever, since she was not sick or anything like that, she held his arm and waved his kindness aside.

The happy memory that came to her mind when she thought in her Patronus was an image she was not sure whether it was part of her memories or one of her childhood dreams; , anyway, it was happy enough. So, she repeated the gesture that was in her mind by extending her right arm; then, moving her thumb lightly against the each fingertip, and finally turning her outstretched hand upward. While doing this she smiled lightly and whispered: '_Expectro Patronun!'_

From the palm of Flora's hand came a bright egg that cracked open when a beautiful silvery peacock emerged from it. For the third time Harry repeated his spell and the peacock merged into the bracelet with the other Patronuses. Then he tenderly looked at his daughter, and with hands shivering from emotion he conjured his stag and repeated the spell for the last time before completing the charm bracelet.

Harry turned to Flora and reached out his arms asking her to let him hold Astrea. He was so thrilled that he fumbled as he tried to put the ornament on his daughter's wrist and barely managed to close the tiny clasp. The four mini Patronuses were still bright around the baby's wrist, who smiled asleep, as he stroked her face and said:

'This bracelet should protect you, my daughter, until you yourself can do it alone. We are always with you.'

Felipe hugged his friend and looked fondly at his wife. Ginny hugged Flora and said softly:

'Now we are just one family.'

Flora smiled back looking fondly at them all. They spent several minutes in utter silence. Then Felipe checked his watch and said:

'The children are coming at any time. Yan was meeting them at the school gates.'

Ginny added in a low voice, looking at Astrea who slept quietly in Harry's lap:

'You're going to meet your brothers and sisters, Astrea. All the six of them.'

Flora was surprised as she didn't expect this reaction from Ginny. But Astrea's godmother seemed very quiet. Ginny continued:

'Harry and I thought it best not to hide the truth from our children. We talked with them days ago, but we asked them not to comment about it with anyone, not even with the two of you. They were very understanding about it. Felipe did the same with your children and they're all eager to meet their little sister.' Ginny said, smiling. Then she asked: 'May I go to your kitchen to prepare a snack for them? They should get out of Hogwarts before dinner, right after the last classes.'

'Oh, of course.' Flora said still surprised, but happy that everything was fine.

Ginny asked Felipe to give her a hand in the kitchen as an excuse to leave Harry and Flora alone for a while. Ginny knew Harry and Flora had much to talk about and her husband deserved and counted on her full support. Harry looked surprised at his wife and she encouraged him with an affectionate eye to stay where he was. After Ginny and Felipe left, Harry said:

'Very beautiful our little girl ... Her eyes?'

For a moment he was so afraid of Flora's response that he didn't dare to ask the question with all the words. After all, he imagined that their daughter's eyes could be black like Bellatrix's or yet red with cat-like slits for pupils... But by stroking the soft black hair of their daughter, looking at her little pink cheeks and her tiny, red heart-like mouth his scary thought vanished. Flora soothed him:

'We aren't too sure of their colour, she's a newborn baby and their colour can change. But it seems something between the colour of your eyes and mine. Soon she's going to wake up and you'll see.'

Astrea stretched in the lap of her father-godfather and yawned. He smiled and said:

'Thank you, Flora. She is beautiful.'

With a loving gaze, Harry held her tiny hand where the four patronuses were still shining, and then kissed the forehead of his daughter, surrendered by the tenderness and power of the love blessing.


	29. 29 The phoenix, the patronus and the gl

30. The phoenix, the patronus and the glowing blue eyes

Harry spent some minutes completely silent staring at his daughter, who smiled sleeping. At this moment Fawkes came to the balcony, perching on the wooden fence. Harry was surprised and said:

'When Hagrid told me that Fawkes had returned and was with you, I couldn't believe it. I was wondering what brought him back ...'

Flora said smiling:

'I have an explanation, but I think it's silly ...'

'Tell me please.' Said Harry a bit curious.

'Don't laugh please ... Well, did you see how I cast my patronus, right?'

'Of course ... Very interesting. I was really intrigued to know how you do that ... Anyway, what this has to do with Fawkes?'

'Take it easy, Harry. I'll get there. I learned it with my Bluish Santa Claus.' Flora smiled at Harry who was wide eyed. 'When I was about four, I was really afraid of the dark. So I created an imaginary friend for me so that he could be with me every night. He entertained me with strange songs in strange tongues. We had a lot of fun, although he wasn't a good singer … And he could wield magic and turn on and off the light with his wand or his lighter until I'd fall asleep. In my dreams I also did some magic tricks for him. He was a bluish Santa Claus, I mean, all dressed in a long blue cloak of stars, his beard was so long that sometimes it seemed to be tucked into his belt - he was tall and thin and had kind eyes behind half-moon glasses that hanged from a very crooked nose. He had a phoenix like this. He came to me hanging on its feathers. So I told my mother: "Mum, my bluish Santa Claus doesn't travel with reindeers, he travels with a gold and red bird" - of course my mother thought it was all my imagination and was amused by my Santa Claus ...'

Flora, lost in her daydream, and continued to talk, while Harry was listening without saying a single word:

'He also sang to me, the Phoenix. A little before my fifth birthday he said he needed to go away and he wouldn't be back anymore. I cried a lot and asked him to give me the Phoenix. He said to me that when the time came and if no hunter had hurt the bird, he would give me him if the bird wanted to come with me ... I asked him: 'as a Christmas gift?' He smiled and said yes, then he stretched out his hand and an egg with a bright phoenix inside appeared. I found it beautiful. While I that light was fading out, and I was looking at it, he left. The next day I told my mother about my dream and secretly I waited him for a long time. Many Christmas Days later I was completely defeated and had accepted that it was only my imagination. Then I stopped to wait for my gift ... Santa would never come back the phoenix neither. And now the bird is back and I'm confused and happy for the first time ever. It's all real, my Santa is real and I'm a witch and I can feel love overflowing through my pores, exactly as it was when I was a little girl ... I can't explain! When you asked me to cast my patronus, I remembered that old man, my bluish Santa - a memory no doubt very happy - then I repeated his gesture ... Silly, isn't it?'

Harry took a breath and said, still stunned:

'No. You're describing Albus Dumbledore. Wow!'

'I thought that I had recognized his eyes when I saw Aberforth at the first time, but I thought it was silly ...'

' Tut, tut … Dumbledore ... Dumbledore ...'

Harry listened to the echo of his words. He did not believe what he had just heard. He had never heard Dumbledore knew about or suspected of Flora's existence. He said to himself:

'Why did he never say anything to anyone, and why did he deliberately let you live far from our world ...?

'It's easy to answer that: because it was better this way ... just Imagine if Voldemort my loving daddy and my lovely mother Bellatrix knew about my existence... Who would I be? What would they do?'

Harry seemed to have heard nothing of what she had just spoken. He continued:

'And I don't understand why you and your friends haven't been called by a wizarding Brazilian school or a wizarding Latin American school ... Because there're others wizarding schools in the world ... See, one of my brothers-in-law, Bill, had a pen-friend from a school in Brazil... '

'Well, I certainly had to be protected beyond measure and my friends too. Even Felipe. Maybe he was afraid that somebody could find me, and it certainly could happen if I was in our midst. Or maybe he was afraid of the power I could get ... He could not isolate just me, you know.'

Harry smiled. After all she might be right; he could not get over the feeling of frustration that always accompanied him when he discovered one more item in Dumbledore's secrets and lies long list. As he said nothing, Flora said as she smiled and looked at the coloured sky:

'Anyway, I'm grateful to Dumbledore, my bluish Santa Claus and to Mr Lestrange for the wonderful life they have given me. Not to mention the elves who never revealed the secret about me ...'

Then she looked at Harry, who was also smiling. He asked:

'Is it true what you told me?'

'About my bluish Santa Claus? Of course yes! Only that up to now I thought he was an imaginary friend ... And I confess that I was in doubt whether he was real or not but since yesterday when the phoenix came to me, I thought about him too ...and started to think he was real, I even remembered that I had seen his face somewhere ... If you don't believe me, look inside my mind. '

'No, no need. I'm just a little stunned. I believe you.'

They intensely looked at each other, but for the first time, the meaning was different. It was not an exchange of glances between lovers, there was sweetness and a great affection between the two. Finally, their intention had changed. The exchange of glances was interrupted by the sound of the house gates announcing the arrival of Astrea' six brothers.


	30. Epilogue

Epilogue

Flora breastfed little Astrea while sitting in a rocking chair on the porch of her home. It was a wonderful afternoon, it rained in torrents and all nature was silent to honour the sound of the rain. Felipe was at work, Ricardo, Lia and Yan in Hogwarts. Flora's mother would arrive in a few days, from Brazil to meet her newest little granddaughter. Flora did not know how they would continue to keep her adoptive mother from knowing anything about the world of magic, but Narcissa had assured her that she and Andromeda would find a way to do that, and so she need not worry about. Felipe, their children and her just needed to fetch Flora's mother in London, and all would be set.

Unfortunately her mother had not managed to come during the Hogwarts' holidays, but McGonagall had authorized them to spend a weekend out of school to see their grandmother.

Astrea's little hands would not stop caressing her mother. Her little eye shut satisfied. And if it was only for this, the afternoon would be perfect, thought Flora. Being three months old, the little girl was more and more active, very sweet and very cute. Her eyes were even going to be green, for Harry's relief, who always came to visit them with Ginny.

The classes had begun in the previous week. Yan was sorted into Slytherin and was very pleased, just as his cousin, Scorpius. This was not a surprise to Flora, because Yan was her only Parselmouth kid, besides he had a highly developed sense of community, like the other students of the house. She and Felipe had been a little apprehensive at first, but soon they thought of Draco and Narcissa, and this calmed them down. Yan was much loved. Furthermore, he had no vocation for evil.

Astrea fell asleep, so Flora put her in the pram and covered her with the blanket made by Ginny. The blanket seemed to keep the warmth of her godmother's hands, and this warmed the baby with affection. Flora looked at the bracelet with the mini-patronuses. She felt so happy now that she and Harry had managed to overcome their passion and could be good friends. This way they respected their families, which, after all, was the most sacred thing to both of them.

Fawkes was dozing in approached the wooden fence of the balcony. She approached him and stroked the bird, while watching the rain. She breathed in and filled her lungs with the humid air. Then she remembered Dumbledore, her bluish Santa Claus, her anonymous protector, and felt her heart sink. She wished both, to have got to know him and to have been able to thank him for the quiet life he gave her... She sighed. He had sewn her fate so well, but at the end she was where, in fact, her place was. Then she smiled. How long would Fawkes stay with her? She felt in the bottom of her heart that the bird was just passing. However, it did not make her sad. She looked at the horizon; at the outline of the castle. Katarina should be there, covering her absence in the first months of Astrea's life ... Katarina and her beautiful love story with Viktor - Flora smiled. Davi, Nadine's husband, was trying to be transferred to the Irish office of the multinational company he worked at. If he managed that, their daughter would also come to Hogwarts and so the three Brazilian witches would be close to each other again.

Astrea was yawning and stretching herself. Flora looked at her and felt immensely happy to have _chosen to be_ Astrea's mother. She understood this as a way to rewrite in the stars the early life of three persons at the same time: Harry's , Tom Riddle's, and her own. Astrea would grow along with her parents, surrounded by love and understanding - everything that Harry and Voldemort did not have, and all that Flora thought had been denied to her, when in fact she had had everything she could dream of: her Brazilians parents were devoted, caring and loving ... Anyway, she felt that the birth of her daughter closed a cycle.

Flora stroked the scar where she had her finger amputated. Sometimes she had doubts about her history with Bellatrix. Did she even exist or the history of the stone and Bellatrix had been a figment of her imagination? A psychotic delusion? Anyway, she knew that Bellatrix would not go back anymore. Inwardly, she knew was cured. Relieved, Flora smiled.

Then, suddenly, the arrival of a totally soaked owl interrupted her thoughts. She quickly took the letter that the owl brought and dried the bird using magic. After drying her, the owl went to rest next to Fawkes, who received it with a movement that seemed to Flora a nod, as if a greeting. It was Hermione's owl:

_Dear Flora,_

_I've been thinking over what you have said about your patronus and about the reason why it took the shape of a peacock._

_I knew I had read about them somewhere and went to check it for you. On the contrary to what you think, they are not just pompous. The book went as follow and I think it makes sense; it seems to describe you: "While the peacock is beautiful, it does not stick up to its own beauty, like someone wearing different masks in an endless game, sometimes it shows itself up, to soon hide itself again."_

_Well, that's it. I hope this helps you._

_As soon as we have a break, Ron and I will visit you all._

_kisses,_

_Hermione._

Flora smiled and told herself:

"Yeah, my friend. You've just taken away my last mask and once again I'm thinking who I am. I'm no longer a Riddle, and I've resigned being a Shytherin as well as a Black ... But I was never able to be a Gressler or a Ferreira... I think people will know me just as Flora. No last name. My story henceforth is only mine."

Then she closed her eyes for a moment and shaking her head she smiled, for she knew life would run its course, now that everything was in its place.

The End

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Hi everybody:)!  
This story reached its end. I tried to sew all the pieces to give you (and me) explanations about Flora's life.  
I beg you to excuse me for Harry's suffering, I'm completely guilty about it. I must say I tried to kill him (a friend challenged me to doing that), but it's impossible, because I - just as you - love him (I don't know whether it could comfort somebody, but I suffered as much as him when I wrote some chapters and sometimes I hated Flora) ...  
I would like to read your comments. I think one who has read it from beginning to end could have something to tell me. (And I'm not affraid of tomatoes or other angry vegetables, for them I have my pink umbrella)...

kisses,

Mrs Borgin


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